AVIATION SECURITY

Tel Aviv flight diverted to Sofia after bomb threat

An Austrian Airlines flight from Tel Aviv to Vienna diverted to Sofia under fighter escort after a reported bomb threat. All 51 passengers and six crew members disembarked safely.

BharatVox · 19 October 2026 at 09:21 am IST

Austrian Airlines Airbus A320 — context photograph; not the reported event — Aeroprints.com, CC BY-SA 3.0

Austrian Airlines flight OS82, travelling from Tel Aviv to Vienna with 57 people aboard, made an emergency landing in Sofia on Sunday, October 18, after its crew reported a bomb threat. RT, citing Bulgaria’s Transport Ministry, reported that the Airbus A320 was near the Romanian border when the crew alerted authorities.

Bulgarian MiG-29 fighter jets escorted the aircraft to Vasil Levski Sofia Airport. All 51 passengers and six crew members left the plane safely.

Airline spokeswoman Anita Kiefer said passengers would be booked onto alternative flights following a police search of the aircraft. The report did not give the search results or establish whether any explosive device had been found.

#Austrian Airlines#Aviation security#Sofia#Tel Aviv#Bulgaria

Fact-check this story · Source: RT: Tel Aviv flight diverted over bomb threat. This AI-assisted account is based on the linked source, not independent on-the-ground reporting by BharatVox. Any opinion is separately labelled.

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