Bulgarian Air Force escorted three civilian aircraft following bomb threats

The Bulgarian Air Force scrambled MiG-29 fighter jets on November 5 to escort three passenger aircraft that had been the subject of bomb threats, the Defence Ministry said.

One of the civilian aircraft landed at Plovdiv and the other two at Vassil Levski Sofia Airport, the ministry said.

In cases of a such a nature, under command from the Nato Joint Air Operations Centre, the Bulgarian fighter jets on air policing duty, perform tasks of detecting, recognising and escorting aircraft, the statement said.

Bulgarian media reported that the aircraft that landed at Plovdiv was a flight from London. Three buses were sent to the scene to transport the passengers to Sofia.

The plane landed in a remote area of the airport for inspection. According to the plan for action in such situations, fire engines and ambulances were sent there.

The operator of all three flights for which they received threats is Ryanair.

After thorough checks, no explosive devices were found on board the aircraft, media reports said.

November 5 is the second consecutive day to see numerous bomb threats against civilian aircraft in European air space. Two of those on November 4 were against aircraft travelling to Sofia.

(Photo: Defence Ministry)