Bomb Threats Disrupt European Flights and Newsrooms

Bomb threats emailed across Europe this week disrupted flights and emptied the newsroom of Ireland's national broadcaster RTÉ.

Flight disruptions

More than a dozen flights out of Copenhagen, Dublin, Helsinki, Madrid, Milan and Warsaw drew threats on Thursday, the Associated Press reported. Most of them were diverted or subjected to emergency procedures. Eurocontrol logged threats against 14 flights Thursday, or 0.05 percent of the nearly 26,300 flights crossing its network that day, according to the AP.

An Aer Lingus Dublin-to-Rome service landed at the Évreux military base in Normandy under French warplane escort. Everyone aboard escaped harm: 151 passengers and six crew in all. Officials split the passengers into groups of 10 for questioning inside the airport.

Czech police searched four planes that landed in Prague the same day and found nothing. Officers ran those sweeps even after concluding the warnings carried no credibility. Prague Airport spokesperson Denisa Hejtmankova counted nine threatened flights into and out of the city on Friday, the AP reported. The airport canceled none of them, according to Reuters.

Hungarian fighter jets escorted three airliners through the country's airspace Friday after NATO issued successive scramble alerts, Daily News Hungary reported. NATO ordered additional air patrols near the Serbian border and the Hungarian-Romanian frontier, Defense Minister Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi stated.

Newsroom evacuations

Newsrooms at Bulgaria's Nova TV and Irish public broadcaster RTÉ received messages Friday from a purported "Mikhail Andropov" claiming responsibility for the threats, Reuters reported. The emails carried the subject line "Message to the West" and cast the campaign as a prelude to attacks on European transportation. The wire service could not confirm the sender or any link to the flight threats.

RTÉ cleared its Dublin headquarters and swapped live programming for pre-recorded shows, the Associated Press reported. Staff returned once police and sniffer dogs cleared the building. Radio One presenter David McCullagh told listeners the threat warned of a blast within 45 minutes, according to Al Jazeera.

Threats also reached Virgin Media, Newstalk and The Irish Independent, Al Jazeera reported. Irish officials called a coordinated disruption campaign the likely explanation. Responsibility remains unclear.

Official responses

Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said the most reasonable reading of the pattern is an attempt at "hybrid aggression and a form of psychological warfare" in remarks to TVE, Reuters reported.

Dublin is set to host meetings with the European Political Community and European Union leaders next week. Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin pledged heavy security in the wake of the threats, the AP reported.

Investigators have found no explosive devices throughout their searches and no government has assigned blame.

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Sources

• dailycaller.com: More Than A Dozen Flights Diverted Over Bomb Threats, Newsrooms Evacuated | The Daily Caller
• aol.com: More Than A Dozen Flights Diverted Over Bomb Threats, Newsrooms Evacuated - AOL
• moroccoworldnews.com: New Bomb Threats Target European Newsrooms, Disrupt Flights

This article was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Company claims are reported as claims. Cover image is AI-generated.