An Austrian Airlines passenger flight traveling from Israel to Vienna, Austria, made an emergency landing at a Bulgarian airport on the 18th local time after receiving a bomb threat report, AFP reported.

According to AFP reports and flight tracking websites, Austrian Airlines Flight OS82 departed from Tel Aviv Airport in Israel at around 6:46 p.m. local time on the 18th, heading to its destination of Vienna Airport in Austria, before diverting and making an emergency landing at Sofia Airport in Bulgaria.

The Bulgarian Ministry of Transport explained in a statement that the decision to make an emergency landing was made after crew members received a bomb threat report while the aircraft was near Romanian airspace.

The Bulgarian Ministry of Transport stated that the Bulgarian Air Force scrambled fighter jets to escort the passenger plane in accordance with air defense procedures.

According to the flight tracking website FlightAware, the passenger plane urgently turned south and landed at Sofia Airport while entering Romanian airspace about two hours after takeoff.

At the time, the Airbus A320 aircraft was carrying 51 passengers and 6 crew members.

AFP reported that the passenger plane landed safely at Sofia Airport about 30 minutes after the threat occurred and underwent a security search inside the cabin.

Previously, on September 30, a flydubai passenger flight traveling from Dubai, UAE, to Tel Aviv nearly suffered a disaster when the co-pilot attacked the pilot with an emergency axe, seized control of the cockpit, and attempted to crash the aircraft before being subdued by crew members and passengers.

(Photo: Getty Images)