Russia is suspected of hoax bomb threats that forced eight jets, including UK flights, into emergency landings
A LOT Polish Airlines Boeing 737 like the aircraft carrying 181 passengers, including Jewish schoolchildren from a London school, that was diverted from its Heathrow-to-Warsaw route after a hoax bomb threat.A locator map of European flight routes, showing the countries affected by Tuesday's bomb threats, including the Ryanair jet from Manchester that landed under guard in Murcia, Spain.
Russia is the prime suspect behind a wave of coordinated hoax bomb threats that targeted passenger jets across Europe on Tuesday, with aviation security experts warning the pattern suggests a "deliberate act" by a state actor or its supporters. A LOT Polish Airlines flight from Heathrow to Warsaw, carrying 181 people including Jewish schoolchildren on a Holocaust education trip to Auschwitz, was diverted to Warsaw-Modlin airport. At least eight jets in total were affected across Italy, Spain, Poland and Bulgaria, with no explosives found on any aircraft.
One mother said she felt 'absolute panic' after her 16-year-old son texted to say his Holocaust trip flight had been diverted.
A Manchester medic on the Ryanair Murcia flight described the evacuation as 'quite traumatic', with passengers held in an airport hangar for three hours.
Aviation expert Matthew Borie warned a 'Russian angle' could not be ruled out, but said Iranian hybrid warfare was 'just as active in certain pockets of Europe'.
