Bomb threats reported against seven flights and a cruise ship in Europe

At least seven flights and a cruise ship in Europe received bomb threats on Tuesday 3 November, Reuters reported, and no explosive devices were found. The flights were two bound for Warsaw, two for Sofia, two for Rome and one for Murcia in Spain. All the aircraft landed safely. Reuters said there was no claim of responsibility and officials did not attribute blame.

The most visible disruption came in Poland. A LOT flight from London Heathrow, a Boeing 737 MAX carrying 181 people, received a warning at 8.54am GMT, according to The Independent. It landed seven minutes later at Warsaw-Modlin, a second airport about 36 km from the capital that is mostly used by budget airlines. Modlin closed and passengers were taken to the arrivals hall. Spokesman Adam Szablowski told AFP that nothing was found. Operations resumed around midday.

Sofia, Rome, Murcia and a ship at Syros

A second Warsaw-bound flight, SAS SK751 from Copenhagen, landed normally at Chopin airport while one runway stayed closed for the search. Polish authorities said the threat was "not confirmed", according to CBC.

In Sofia, Bulgaria's transport ministry told Reuters that the threats targeted a Wizz Air flight from Milan/Bergamo and a Ryanair flight from Dublin. Both landed safely. At Rome's Fiumicino airport, two Ryanair flights, from Lisbon and from Dublin, were searched, ADR sources told the Italian news agency Adnkronos. The Italian Air Force escorted the Dublin flight until it landed.

At Murcia, a Ryanair flight from Manchester triggered an emergency protocol run by Spain's airport operator, Aena. Francisco Lucas, the government delegate in Murcia, said on X that all 121 people on board disembarked and security forces inspected the aircraft, Reuters reported. Officials said it was a hoax.

The Crown Iris was a different case. The Panama-flagged cruise ship is operated by the Israeli company Mano Maritime and was due to sail from Syros, Greece, to Haifa. Reuters, citing Greek authorities, said an unknown person claimed an explosive device was attached to the hull. Initial coast guard checks, with a detection dog and a private diver, found nothing. Specialist divers were due at 9:30pm local time, and the result had not been reported. Passenger Ofra Avraham, 69, told Walla that "the disembarkation was orderly". The Financial Times reported that it was too early to draw conclusions on whether the flight incidents were linked, and no source seen so far connects the ship threat to them.

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What to watch

Four developments will show whether Tuesday was an isolated cluster. The first is whether anyone claims responsibility. The second is whether any government names a culprit. The BBC reported that officially there is no link between the threats, but that authorities from various countries will co-operate to assess whether this was a co-ordinated attack designed to disrupt airspace. The third is the result of the specialist inspection of the Crown Iris. The fourth is whether further threats follow, as they did on consecutive days.

In Britain, the Metropolitan Police said it was aware of threats against four aircraft due to depart from or arrive at Heathrow, and a further threat against an aircraft at Manchester. It said the airlines found no security issues. Counter-Terrorism Policing said it had no active investigation into any of them, the Evening Standard reported. The UK government called the threats "malicious hoaxes", The Guardian reported.