Israeli aircraft targeted by bomb threat

An airliner of the Israeli company El Al was targeted by two bomb threats while flying from New York to Tel Aviv. A warning that announced the presence of a bomb on board was received by phone in the US while another warning also by phone reached the Israeli authorities.

According to Reuters, the security alert was triggered while the Boeing 747 was above France. After the aircraft was escorted by a French military aircraft, the surveillance continued by a Swiss F-18, wrote the Sky Guide magazine. More, Bulgaria has sent a fighter jet to escort the Israeli aircraft, announced the Bulgarian Ministry of Defense.

On its way to Israel, the plane crossed the airspace of Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey and the Republic of Cyprus. The plane's interior was searched, but no bomb was discovered as the plane landed safely.

The Israeli company El Al is considered to be one of the safest airline companies in the world. An Israeli official dismissed the exaggerated measures taken by European authorities. "We have not considered that there is any threat; perhaps that European countries have taken such measures as they were alerted separately by the United States," anonymously said an Israeli official quoted by website Reuters.

Last month, security personnel from El Al acted against a person they viewed as suspicious at the Athens International Airport in Greece. The man in question had been walking in the area with a large backpack that aroused the suspicion of the security guards. After the man failed to heed to the guards' several calls, they acted to overcome him.