▲ An Aer Lingus Airbus A320 flying from Dublin to Rome lands at the Évreux Air Base in France.
Chaos has continued across European skies as a fresh wave of bomb threats targeted numerous passenger planes, prompting the scramble of fighter jets.
According to AP and Reuters on the 5th (local time), more than 27 passenger planes departing from various locations across Europe—including Copenhagen in Denmark, Dublin in Ireland, Helsinki in Finland, Madrid in Spain, Milan in Italy, and Warsaw in Poland—received hoax bomb threats.
The number of threats on this day surged to more than three times compared to two days prior.
On the 3rd, bomb reports were filed consecutively for seven European passenger planes, causing disruptions such as emergency landings.
A multitude of airlines regardless of their nationality, including Aer Lingus, Wizz Air, LOT Polish Airlines, Finnair, easyJet, and Iberia, were affected.
While most of the flights made emergency landings at airports other than their destinations to undergo safety checks, it was reported that no hazardous materials were found.
On this day, a Finnair passenger plane flying from Helsinki, Finland to Rome, Italy received a report that explosives were on board.
The passenger plane landed safely at Rome Fiumicino Airport under the escort of scrambled fighter jets.
Italian authorities conducted safety checks on the aircraft, but reportedly found no bombs.
Finnair stated, "Two of our company's aircraft received unfounded bomb threats."
An Aer Lingus passenger plane traveling from Dublin, Ireland to Rome, Italy also received a bomb threat on this day, causing the plane to divert to the Évreux Air Base in northern France.
There were 151 people on board the aircraft, including passengers.
Czech police stated that four aircraft that received bomb threats made emergency landings in Prague, Czech Republic, but no hazardous elements were found.
A passenger plane departing from Warsaw, Poland and heading to Brussels, Belgium also received a bomb threat, though no suspicious circumstances were confirmed.
Austrian police stated that threats were also made against four passenger planes at Vienna Airport, but did not disclose the specific flight numbers.
In Bulgaria, three flights departing from places such as Copenhagen, Denmark and Madrid, Spain were escorted by fighter jets due to bomb reports and made emergency landings in Sofia and elsewhere.
According to the Spanish Civil Guard, Spanish authorities received three emails threatening bomb attacks against two Air Europa flights and others in less than 20 minutes.
AFP, ANSA, and other news agencies reported that many of the threatening emails bore the signature of "Male State," a known Russian extremist group.
The threatening emails reportedly contained phrases such as, "It will explode in 60 minutes. Your sky will turn red today," and "The feminist regime will remember this forever."
However, the mastermind behind the threats, including the authenticity of the email signatures, remains unclear.
Adding to the bomb threat reports on European aircraft, recent hacking incidents targeting supermarket refrigerators across various European countries have spread, raising suspicions that it may be a Russian operation aimed at stoking anxiety in Western society.
The cyberattacks, which remotely raised the temperatures of supermarket refrigeration and freezing units up to 55 degrees Celsius (131 degrees Fahrenheit), have been identified in at least 11 countries recently, including Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Sweden, Estonia, Ireland, Finland, Italy, Portugal, Germany, and the United Kingdom.
(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)
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