Two Ryanair flights from Dublin caught up in wave of bomb scares across Europe

Two Ryanair flights departing Dublin were caught up in a wave of bomb scares across Europe on Tuesday, with one forced to make an emergency landing in Italy and another among seven aircraft targeted by threats. A wave of bomb scares across Europe prompted searches of at least seven passenger aircraft on Tuesday, grounding flights and causing unplanned diversions. Two Italy-bound Ryanair flights from Lisbon and Dublin were forced to make emergency landings over anonymous tips regarding potential bomb threats, sources at Rome Fiumicino airport told the BBC. A third Ryanair flight from Manchester to Murcia in Spain also received a threat, but turned out to be a hoax, local media said. A fourth flight from London Heathrow to Poland also had to divert to another Warsaw airport due to a threat, while a fifth plane from Copenhagen received a scare but landed as planned in the Polish capital. Bulgaria's transport ministry separately reported that threats were made against a sixth flight travelling from Italy's Bergamo to Sofia and a seventh from Dublin to the Bulgarian capital. The Bergamo flight was earlier identified by Bulgarian media as being from Israel. Travel journalist Eoghan Corry said the alarm was originally raised by an online tip-off. 'What seems to have happened is that a series of threats were sent out by email,' he told RTÉ's Drivetime programme. Acknowledging a heightened degree of speculation surrounding the motives for the threats, Mr Corry said the forceful reaction across affected airports reflects the emphasis placed on aviation safety in Europe. 'You have to go back to the 80s to Lockerbie where we had an actual bomb attack that caused fatalities. It's not frequent but it's not unusual. 'What happened today was being assessed at different airports all around Europe at different levels and some of them seem to have taken it a bit more seriously than others.' DAA spokeman Graeme McQueen confirmed that Dublin Airport is 'operating as normal' and is unaffected by the disturbances to flight scheduling elsewhere. Ryanair has been contacte for comment. The Polish airline LOT flight from Heathrow was carrying 181 people when an alert on Tuesday brought it down at Warsaw-Modlin airport. Security services were still verifying the threat and the international airport affected was temporarily closed. The Boeing 737 Max had been due to land at Warsaw Chopin airport when the warning came in at 9.54am local time. Bomb disposal experts reportedly checked the flight and passengers' luggage after it touched down at Modlin seven minutes later. A second bomb threat was reported on a Scandinavian SAS flight from Copenhagen to Warsaw, which was forced to land at Chopin Airport and was also being checked. SAS later said the flight had landed safely in Warsaw and passengers had disembarked. While no one has claimed responsibility for the scares, the incidents reflect growing concerns in Europe about hybrid threats to infrastructure amid growing security tensions since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. An explosive-laden drone was found near a Ukrainian plane at the Leipzig/Halle airport in east Germany in August, prompting a counterterrorism investigation. Flights were later suspended and several aircraft diverted from the airport. Moscow has repeatedly denied involvement in sabotage or hybrid warfare operations and has not commented on Tuesday's incidents in Poland. Warsaw-Chopin remained open on Tuesday, a spokesperson for the airport said. Warsaw has two airports: Chopin is within the city limits and Modlin, mostly used by budget airlines, is about 30km from the capital. Adam Szabłowski, spokesperson for Warsaw Modlin Airport, told tvn24.pl: 'A plane from London landed at Modlin Airport at 10.01am with 181 people on board. The airport has been closed. We are waiting for bomb disposal experts.' The airport said in a statement that the plane was directed to a designated area after landing and would remain there until the authorities, including bomb disposal teams, gave clearance. Passengers were told to wait in the arrival lounge while checks were being carried out, Polish outlet Fakt reported.