Seven flights operating at different points in Europe have received false bomb threats this Tuesday, which has forced the activation of security protocols in Poland, Italy, Bulgaria and Spain. Five of the aircraft belonged to the Irish airline Ryanair.
On Spanish territory, the International Airport of the Region of Murcia activated its emergency plans after an alert was received on board a Ryanair aircraft coming from the British city of Manchester. The passengers were evacuated and a TEDAX team examined the aircraft, ultimately confirming the absence of explosives.
The other two flights affected by these notices were heading to Warsaw, capital of Poland, after taking off respectively from London, capital of the United Kingdom, and from Copenhagen, capital of Denmark.
"We inform you that the bomb threat was cancelled at 12:21 p.m. (local time in Poland). After the intervention of the corresponding services, the Warsaw/Modlin airport has resumed its operations normally", the airport authorities of the Polish airport have indicated, who have pointed out that the situation has caused delays in the departures of some flights.
In Bulgaria, the Ministry of the Interior has said that two aircraft bound for Sofia, capital of the country, and coming from Bergamo, in Italy, and Dublin, in Ireland, also received bomb warnings. Once on the ground, both aircraft were inspected by agents of the Specialized Unit for Combating Terrorism in search of possible devices.
The Bulgarian Minister of Transport and Communications, Georgi Peev, has confirmed that no explosives were found on either of the two aircraft on which the threats were received, according to what the BTA news agency has reported.
To these five flights, two more are added: one that departed from Dublin and another that took off from Lisbon. Both landed at Rome's Fiumicino airport, in the Italian capital, where they were subjected to additional checks after similar threats were recorded. The checks concluded with no findings of interest, although the Italian Air Forces deployed two military aircraft to escort one of the suspected aircraft, according to information published by the newspaper "La Stampa".
Taken together, five of the seven flights involved were by Ryanair, while the sixth belonged to the Polish airline LOT —the one covering the route between London and Warsaw— and the seventh to the Scandinavian SAS, which flew from Copenhagen to Warsaw. All the threats turned out to be false.