Serbia fighter jets escort Wizz Air plane after bomb threat

The loud bang that frightened residents of Serbia was caused by two Serbian Armed Forces fighter jets breaking the sound barrier. They had been scrambled to escort a Wizz Air plane that was reportedly carrying an explosive device. The country's Ministry of Defence said so in a statement.

“We apologise to citizens for causing them concern. The noise in question was caused by two of our fighter jets breaking the sound barrier,” the ministry's statement said.

How the plane was escorted

According to Serbian broadcaster B92, the armed forces command sent the jets to “escort” the Wizz Air airliner through Serbian airspace. The plane was flying from Brussels to Sofia when a report of an explosive device on board came in.

The Ministry of Defence clarified that the fighter jets were deployed following a warning from the Serbia and Montenegro Air Traffic Services agency (SMATSA). Air defence units and search and rescue services were also placed on the highest alert.

The fighters intercepted the passenger plane, identified it visually and escorted it to the Bulgarian border, after which they returned to their base in Batajnica. According to available information, no explosive device was found when the aircraft was inspected in Bulgaria.

A wave of false threats across Europe

The bomb threats that have affected planes across Europe this week, including in Czechia, arrive by email. According to Bulgarian broadcaster Nova, three planes that received such a threat landed at Bulgarian airports on Thursday.

B92 reports that since the start of the week, the wave of false bomb alerts has disrupted at least 34 flights in Europe.

Colonel Asen Peychev, a Bulgarian national security expert, said: “There are two countries in the world interested in destabilising Europe: Russia and Iran.”

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz