A representative of Prague’s Václav Havel Airport said that bomb threats against four flights bound for the Czech capital arrived by anonymous e-mail on Thursday (the 5th). The information is from the CNN network.
The spokesperson for the Czech police said the e-mail was addressed to the airport, while similar messages were sent to other European facilities. The airport activated emergency services and convened its crisis committee.
Local authorities did not indicate in which language the message was written. Police assessed the threats as having low credibility, but the aircraft were subjected to bomb-squad inspections after landing. Nothing suspicious was found, and the extraordinary security measures at the airport were lifted earlier in the morning.
The Prague cases were part of a wave that hit more than a dozen flights across Europe on Thursday. Italian Air Force fighters escorted a Finnair plane that had departed from Helsinki, and an Aer Lingus flight, between Dublin and Rome, was diverted to a French air base. The Bulgarian Air Force accompanied three other aircraft. In none of the cases were explosives found.
This is the third day of threats to European flights this week. On Monday (the 2nd), a flight between London and Sofia made an emergency landing in Budapest. On Tuesday (the 3rd), at least seven flights and a cruise ship were targeted by alerts, and the airport near Warsaw was closed for several hours. No explosive device was found.
The authorship of the threats remains unknown. The European Commission said it is too early to conclude whether the incidents are connected, and no country has claimed responsibility for the alerts.
