Flight from occupied territories makes emergency landing in Bulgaria due to bomb threat

The Airbus A320, operating as flight OS82 from Tel Aviv, landed safely in the Bulgarian capital Sofia with 51 passengers and six crew members on board, the flag carrier of Austria and a subsidiary of the Lufthansa Group, said.

Bulgaria’s Transport Ministry said the Austrian Airlines crew decided to divert and make an emergency landing in Sofia after reportedly receiving a bomb threat while flying near the Romanian border.

Passengers were evacuated after landing, while Bulgarian authorities launched security checks of the aircraft.

The transport ministry announced that a crisis response team has been set up, and relevant authorities have launched an investigation into the incident.

According to Israeli media outlets, the anonymous bomb threat that forced the flight to change course came from an Austrian citizen who was not on board the plane.

The Bulgarian Defense Ministry said MiG-29 fighter jets were scrambled to escort the aircraft to the airport in an operation coordinated with NATO’s so-called Combined Air Operations Center in Spain.

According to data from Flightradar24, the plane with the registration OE-LZE entered Romanian airspace at around 9:10 p.m. local time (1810 GMT), before it changed direction southward and returned to Bulgaria, ultimately landing in Sofia.

Data from another flight-tracking service, ADS-B Exchange, shows that the aircraft was transmitting squawk code 7700 — a signal for a general emergency — at approximately the same time.

The plane reportedly was carrying a delegation of young people who were due to speak at the United Nations.

Austrian Airlines said passengers would be rebooked on alternative flights following the inspections.

The Israeli news website Ynet reported that early indications suggested the threat could be a false alarm, although authorities had yet to announce the results of their investigation.

Airlines, particularly those traveling to the Israeli-occupied territories, are on high alert following an alleged attempt by the Omani co-pilot of FlyDubai flight 1073, named Hammam al-Hammami, to take control of a Dubai-Tel Aviv flight on September 30 and crash it into a terminal at Ben Gurion Airport.

Last week, a Delta Air Lines flight from New York that landed at Ben Gurion Airport was targeted by a bomb scare.

Passengers were evacuated, and the plane was relocated to a remote area for inspection after receiving an anonymous alert. Subsequent security checks revealed that the warning was false.