Two planes travelling from the UK to Europe on Tuesday were the subject of “malicious hoax threats”, the Government has said. The two flights leaving the UK, which departed from London Heathrow and Manchester airports, landed safely after bomb threats had been received.
Both planes were inspected by local authorities after one landed in Poland and the other in Murcia, south-east Spain. They were among seven flights across Europe that were grounded after receiving similar threats on Tuesday.
Ryanair flights searched in Spain and Italy
Spanish officials confirmed a Ryanair passenger plane travelling from Manchester landed safely at Murcia Airport with government delegate for the Murcia region Francisco Lucas saying 114 passengers and seven crew members had disembarked the aircraft while a security check took place. He later said the Guardia Civil had ruled out the presence of explosives on the plane following the inspection and the airport had resumed normal operations.
Two Ryanair flights, one from Lisbon and one from Dublin, were searched in Rome’s Fiumicino airport following suspected bomb threats. The airport confirmed the flight from Dublin was escorted by the Italian Air Force, after an anonymous call warned of a potential bomb. Another Ryanair flight, from Dublin to Sofia, received a bomb threat and was searched after landing in the Bulgarian capital, with nothing being found.
Government and police response
A Government spokesperson said of the two planes affected that departed from Britain: “The UK has one of the most robust aviation security systems in the world, with well-tested processes for dealing with any potential threats, as well as malicious hoax threats, like those we’ve seen today. Our world-leading police and intelligence agencies work closely every day to keep us safe, using the tools they have to assess and respond to potential threats.”
The Metropolitan Police confirmed that its aviation unit is monitoring the situation. It said no security issues were identified following threats made against flights after they had taken off. A spokesman said: “We are aware of threats made on the morning of Tuesday, November 3 against four aircraft due to depart from or arrive at Heathrow Airport. We were also made aware of a further threat against an aircraft at Manchester Airport. Following an assessment by the respective airlines, no security issues were identified. The Met’s Aviation Policing Command continues to monitor the situation and liaise with the relevant authorities.”
Counter-Terrorism Policing said it was aware of a number of incidents across Europe in relation to bomb threats, but there was “no active investigation by CTP into any of these matters”. “We remain in contact with relevant UK police forces as well as our international partners and stand ready to provide any further support and assistance if required,” a spokesperson added.
Warsaw diversion and other incidents
The flight from Heathrow to Warsaw Chopin Airport was diverted to Warsaw Modlin Airport after departing on Tuesday morning. Warsaw Modlin Airport said on its website an alert had been raised regarding a bomb threat on board the Boeing 737 max aircraft at 9.54am and the flight had landed safely seven minutes later. There were 181 people on board the LOT Polish Airlines flight and the airport closed while emergency services responded. The bomb threat was “cancelled” at 12.21pm, the airport said, adding flight operations had returned to normal on Tuesday afternoon.
A spokesperson for LOT Polish Airlines said no suspicious items were found when the plane underwent a security inspection. “Following border control checks, passengers were transferred to Warsaw Chopin Airport by coach,” they added.
A passenger on the flight to Murcia told the BBC the plane stopped “quite suddenly” when it landed in Murcia and was “surrounded by fire engines and police and a bomb squad”. She told BBC 5 Live: “We were only later told that it was an actual threat, a bomb threat to the plane itself.”
Elsewhere in Europe, five other flights were reportedly impacted by suspected bomb threats on Tuesday, including one from Copenhagen to Warsaw Chopin Airport and a flight that took off from Bergamo in Italy and landed in Bulgaria’s capital Sofia. Bulgarian transport minister Georgi Peev told reporters bomb threats had been received regarding two planes travelling to Sofia, one from Bergamo and another from Dublin, according to the Bulgarian news agency BTA. Mr Peev said neither aircraft was diverted and no explosive devices were found during inspections.
It comes a day after a bomb threat forced a passenger plane from London to Bulgaria to divert to Budapest. The Wizz Air plane, which was due to depart Luton Airport at 8.15am on Monday and fly to Sofia Airport in the Bulgarian capital, was diverted after the threat was received “during the flight”. In a post on Facebook, Hungarian defence minister Ruszin-Szendi Romulusz said one of the country’s fighter jets had been involved in the response and ensured the passenger plane landed safely in Budapest. The A321 airbus was scheduled to land in Sofia at around 1.25pm local time and instead was diverted towards Hungary as it was flying over Bosnia and Herzegovina, according to flight-tracking website FlightRadar24.
