Fighter jets escorted a Ryanair flight to safety after the pilot called in a bomb threat mid-air, it has been reported.
The Boeing 737 was carrying 190 passengers from Katowice, Poland to Athens, Greece when Greek F-16 fighters scrambled to bring the aircraft to safety on Sunday.
The plane was diverted over the sea as a precaution before landing at the airport in Athens at 5.40pm local time, reports say.
Greek police spokeswoman Constantia Dimoglidou told AFP that they are still working out where the threat originated from, but that the pilot raised the alarm.
The aircraft had been escorted by Hungarian Air Force jets before entering North Macedonian airspace where the Greeks took over, it was reported.
All of the passengers, their luggage and the aircraft were checked after landing and have since been given the all-clear.
A Ryanair spokesperson told The Mirror: “Crew onboard Buzz flight FR6385 travelling from Katowice to Athens (22 Jan) were notified of a potential security threat onboard and in line with safety procedures, continued to Athens where it landed safely before being met by the Greek authorities.
"Passengers disembarked normally and local authorities carried out a standard security search before clearing the aircraft to return to service.”
Last July, a Ryanair pilot revealed that there is a special place where bombs are stashed if one is found onboard a plane.
"On every airplane there's a place that we designate to put a bomb if we find one," the Ryanair pilot told The Mirror. "I'll leave it at that. People will have to guess where it is and hope they're sat away from it.
"Its proper name is the least risk bomb location and it's part of the aircraft that if a bomb exploded would hopefully cause least damage to the airframe."
Alexia Lequien, an aviation security expert, has previously explained how air staff are taught to keep explosives as far away from fuel tanks as possible.
In the event of a possible explosion the cabin pressure may be reduced in a bid to dampen the impact of the blast, she explained.
Alexia told TSI Mag of the least risk bomb location zone: "If a suspected IED is found on an aircraft, it is best for pilots to descend and depressurise the cabin before the suspicious item is placed in the LRBL.
"Cabin crew members have the critical role of identifying the LRBL and moving the suspicious device to this location.
"The suspected IED should be placed as close as possible to the fuselage and we assume that a portion of the aircraft will be lost should the device detonate."
Alexia said that the designated location is usually one furthest away from critical structures such as the cockpit and fuel tanks, and close to an area designed to ‘open’ - such as a door.
