Austrian Airlines jet makes emergency landing in Sofia after bomb threat

An Austrian Airlines flight from Tel Aviv to Vienna made an emergency landing in Sofia on Sunday night after its crew reported a bomb threat, Bulgaria's transport ministry said. The Airbus A320, flight OS82, was carrying 51 passengers and six crew.

The crew raised the alert at 9.17pm as the aircraft approached the Bulgarian-Romanian border, declaring an emergency using the international distress transponder code squawk 7700, the Jerusalem Post reported. Bulgaria's air force scrambled MiG-29 fighter jets on NATO air-policing duty to escort the aircraft to Sofia airport, the defence ministry said, coordinating with NATO's air operations centre in Torrejón, Spain. Bulgarian authorities set up an operational task force and opened an investigation into the incident, Novinite reported, and the air force later said the escort mission had been completed successfully.

After landing, passengers disembarked and the aircraft, passengers and crew underwent security checks, Austrian Airlines said. No danger was found, and the Airbus departed again for Vienna shortly before 3am, arriving in the early hours of Monday, the airline said.

Austria's interior minister, Gerhard Karner, said an investigation was under way and that the diversion followed a phoned threat received by Vienna airport. Israel's Haaretz reported that an Austrian citizen not on board the flight had made the threat, though it did not cite a source for that claim. Yedioth Ahronoth reported that the alert followed the discovery of a suspicious object on board; this has not been corroborated by other outlets.

Lufthansa Group, Austrian Airlines' parent company, said affected passengers would be moved to another flight if needed, Yedioth Ahronoth reported. The Times of Israel said the flight had been carrying a delegation of young people due to speak at the United Nations.