An Austrian Airlines flight carrying 57 people from Tel Aviv to Vienna landed in Sofia after its crew received a bomb threat near Romania, the Bulgarian Ministry of Transport said.
A MiG-29 from the Bulgarian air force flew with the Airbus A320 into Sofia, according to Bulgaria’s Ministry of Defence. The aircraft was flight OS82, traveling from Tel Aviv to Vienna.
All 51 passengers and six crew members left the plane after landing, the Transport Ministry said. The ministry also reported that a crisis response team had been set up and relevant authorities had launched an investigation.
FlightAware data show OS82 left Tel Aviv at 11:46 a.m. ET (15:46 UTC) Sunday and arrived at Sofia’s Vasil Levski Airport at 2:43 p.m. ET (18:43 UTC). Flightradar24 data indicated the aircraft entered Romanian airspace at 2:10 p.m. ET (18:10 UTC) before turning south toward Bulgaria.
Austrian Airlines told AFP passengers would be moved to other flights after the aircraft’s security search was completed.
