A Ryanair flight from Dublin to Krakow had to make an emergency landing in Germany following a potential security threat on board.
The plane arrived in Berlin at around 7pm Irish time last night. According to German paper Bild, there was a bomb threat on board the plane.
Authorities in the German capital said was no danger detected following checks. Ryanair confirmed the grounding in a statement to the Irish Examiner.
“The crew on a Ryanair flight from Dublin to Krakow FR1901 yesterday were notified by German ATC of a potential security threat on board. The captain followed procedures and diverted to the nearest airport, Berlin.
“The aircraft landed safely and passengers were offloaded to facilitate extensive security checks of passengers and all baggage.
“Once cleared by German authorities, passengers travelled onwards to Krakow on a spare Ryanair aircraft after a delay on the ground of approx. 7 hrs.
“Return passengers from Krakow to Dublin travelled on a spare aircraft, with a delay of less than 15 mins."
“The Ryanair plane that made an emergency landing reported an air emergency and was therefore immediately given a landing permit at BER,” airport spokesman Jan-Peter Haack told Bild on Sunday evening.
“It is now in a parking position. The federal police and fire brigade are there.”
Emergency landing
It is reported that there were around 160 passengers on board. Ryanair apologised to affected passengers for the delay, saying it was “outside the airline’s control.”
Last year, another Dublin-Krakow flight was diverted due to a similar threat.
A flight from Krakow in Poland to Dublin was forced to make an emergency landing in London after a bomb threat was found on board.
Passengers had to temporarily disembark the flight from Krakow to Dublin after a note was found in one of the plane’s toilets claiming there were explosives on board the aircraft.
It also follows in the wake of another Ryanair flight which was ordered to land in Belarus last week.
Law enforcers detained activist Roman Protasevich, who was put on a wanted list after last year's mass street protests following an election in which Lukashenko claimed a landslide victory earlier this year.
The aircraft, flying over Belarus from Athens to Vilnius, had almost reached Lithuania when it changed direction and was escorted to Belarusian capital Minsk amid reports that it had explosives on board, according to an online flight tracker and BelTA.
