A passenger plane from Israel made an emergency landing in Sofia after a bomb threat

A passenger plane departing from Israel made an emergency landing at the airport in Sofia, Bulgaria’s capital, after a bomb threat was received by email. Counterterrorism teams began searching the aircraft for explosives.

A passenger plane departing from Israel made an emergency landing at the airport in Sofia, Bulgaria’s capital, because of a bomb threat received by email. Lyubomir Nikolov, acting secretary general of Bulgaria’s Interior Ministry and chief superintendent, said the plane landed on Tuesday, November 3, minutes before he spoke to reporters in Pernik.

Nikolov said teams from the Special Counterterrorism Unit searched the aircraft for explosives. He added that bomb threats claiming explosives had been placed at various institutions had also been received that day, but that there was no information pointing to a specific terrorist plot.

“They have now started involving some airlines as well, which means the aircraft’s route has to be changed,” Nikolov said, adding that the sender of the previous day’s threat had not yet been identified.

Sofya Havalimanı terminal binası (arşiv)

Nikolov recalled that email addresses had been identified in similar previous incidents and that the IP addresses had been traced to other European countries. He said security measures at airports had been increased and that teams followed the established protocol for every threat.

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