Oct 18 (Reuters) – An Austrian Airlines flight from Tel Aviv carrying 57 people was diverted to the Bulgarian capital Sofia late on Sunday after a threat was made against the aircraft, an airline spokesperson told Reuters.
Austrian Airlines said the threat was made against flight OS82 from Tel Aviv to Vienna, which required a stopover in Sofia. The flight landed safely at 2042 CEST (1842 GMT), it said.
The Airbus A320 is being searched, and passengers will be rebooked onto an alternative flight once that is complete, the airline said. There were 51 passengers and six crew members aboard.
Data from air tracker Flightradar24 showed that the aircraft, registered OE-LZE, was set to leave Tel Aviv for Vienna but was diverted to Sofia.
Sky News earlier reported, citing Bulgaria’s transport ministry, that the plane landed after a “bomb threat signal.”
“During the flight, on the border with Romania, the crew reported a bomb threat signal and decided to land in Sofia extraordinarily,” the ministry said, according to the report.
An Air Force fighter accompanied the plane until it landed in Sofia, with the passengers subsequently taken off the aircraft, the report added.
The ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
(Reporting by Anusha Shah, Abu Sultan and Rajveer Singh Pardesi in Bengaluru; Editing by Edmund Klamann, Clarence Fernandez and Stephen Coates)
