A fresh wave of bomb threats hit European flights and media organizations on Friday, following similar incidents earlier in the week. No explosives were found, and authorities have not identified who is responsible.
A new wave of bomb threats disrupted European flights and media outlets on Friday, the third such incident this week, according to the BBC. Multiple flights to and from Lisbon, Rome, Prague and Sofia were targeted, and three planes were escorted through Hungarian airspace, authorities said.
French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu’s office said four new bomb threats were made on Friday against aircraft flying over French territory, and the planes landed safely while bomb disposal experts conducted inspections. Hungarian Defence Minister Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi said jets escorted airliners flying from Brussels to Sofia and from Prague to Bucharest and Cyprus through Hungarian airspace due to bomb threats.
Czech police said they were investigating a threat to place an improvised device aboard a number of aircraft arriving at and departing from Prague Airport, and searches found no suspicious objects on four planes heading to Prague. Copenhagen police said they were at the airport in connection with threats directed at air traffic, and they assessed there was no danger to "passengers or others using the airport."
No explosives have been found on any planes as of Friday.
Several media organizations were also evacuated after threats. Ireland’s public broadcaster RTÉ evacuated its Dublin headquarters, and staff at the Irish Independent newspaper and the Dublin offices of radio stations NewstalkFM and TodayFM were advised to leave their buildings. UK broadcaster Sky said it also received a security threat.
In a statement, gardaí said they were "aware of a threat made against media organisations here and in Europe." Sky, which is owned by Comcast, said in a statement read by a presenter on its news channel that the broadcaster had "carried out a security assessment and reported the matter to the relevant authorities."
The Irish government has warned it is a "likely coordinated campaign of disruption." Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin described the situation as "worrying" and said his government’s first priority was the safety of the Irish public. Martin told RTÉ it was not yet known if the threats had come from individuals or if it was a "coordinated attack."
The Russian extremist group "Male State", named in this week’s hoax bomb threats to Italian airports, denied any link to the false warnings. Replying to the BBC Russian Service, an account on Telegram linked to the group said: "What Male State? Where have you seen it? It hasn’t existed for many years."
The European Commission announced the activation of an information exchange mechanism among EU member states in light of the sequence of incidents, and it said it was still early to determine whether they are related.
The threats have caused diversions, evacuations and security searches across Europe, but no explosives have been found. Authorities in multiple countries have not identified who is behind the threats or whether the incidents are connected, and the disruptions come days before Ireland hosts two high-profile European Union meetings in Dublin next week.
Sources
This article was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Company claims are reported as claims. Cover image is AI-generated.
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