Seven passenger planes across Europe, two of which had departed from the UK, were searched on Tuesday after a series of suspected bomb threats. Authorities said no explosives had been found on any of the aircraft, which were inspected in Italy, Poland, Spain and Bulgaria.
According to sources, two Ryanair flights, one from Dublin and one from Lisbon, were checked after landing at Rome's Fiumicino airport following anonymous tip-offs. The Dublin flight was escorted by the Italian Air Force until it landed. Police bomb disposal experts screened passengers, luggage and the aircraft before the alert was lifted.
A Ryanair flight from Manchester that landed in Murcia, in southern Spain, was also cleared, Spanish authorities said. Two flights bound for Warsaw were affected as well, including one from London Heathrow.
There is no official link between the incidents, but authorities in several countries are working together to assess whether they were a coordinated attempt to disrupt European airspace. The UK government called them "malicious hoax threats" and said its aviation security system had well-tested procedures for dealing with them.
One passenger said nothing was announced during the flight. Once the plane landed it was surrounded by fire engines, police and a bomb squad, and passengers were evacuated without their belongings.