News outlets in Ireland and Bulgaria received emailed bomb threats on Friday, building on the wave of hoaxes that have plagued flights across Europe this week.
Messages were sent to Bulgaria’s Nova TV and Irish public broadcaster RTE, the latter of which was forced to stop broadcasting while staff were evacuated in Donnybrook, Dublin.
RTE Director General Kevin Bakhurst said an email was sent to the network, as well as other Irish media companies, at around 8.33 a.m. After consulting with senior colleagues and the Irish police, the decision was made to evacuate the buildings.
He added that the threat had caused “a lot of disruption,” labeling it “a disgraceful attack on the media, on free media, and unfortunately, probably where it comes from, they don’t really appreciate the importance of free media,” in a statement published by RTE.
Along with RTE, Mediahuis and Independent News Media also evacuated their offices.
The Irish Government described the threats as “very serious,” in a Nov. 6 statement, adding that “hoax threats such as these cause fear, distress and disruption to people going about their daily lives and activities; they achieve no positive purpose whatsoever.”
Dublin said it was not yet known who was behind the threats, but said that it “seems likely” they are linked to the raft of hoaxes perpetrated against airlines across Europe this week.
In Bulgaria, Nova TV reported that in the threatening email it received, the sender had claimed to be one of the leaders of the group responsible for the bomb threats against the planes.
The broadcaster added that it “immediately activated the standard procedure for dealing with such situations, without interrupting the television and radio broadcast of the programs,” and that all employees had since resumed their work.
Britain’s Sky News also confirmed it had received a similar threat in a statement read out on air, but did not say whether it had evacuated its campus in West London.
Threats Continue
European aviation continued to be plagued by bomb threats, with at least a dozen flights receiving them on Friday.
Hungarian Defense Minister Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi said Hungarian Gripen fighter jets escorted planes flying from Brussels to Sofia, from Prague to Bucharest, and Cyprus through Hungarian airspace due to threats, in a Nov. 6 Facebook post.
He added that NATO had ordered an air patrol near the Hungarian–Romanian border, the first report that the alliance had become involved in the ongoing hoax situation.
Czech police confirmed bomb threats against several aircraft departing from or arriving in Prague, in a Nov. 6 post on X, saying that security measures had been put in place at the capital’s Václav Havel Airport.
Prague Airport spokeswoman Denisa Hejtmánková told Czech broadcaster CTK that the threats concerned nine flights (four arrivals and five departures) but did not in any way impact the airport’s operations.
Police in Denmark also confirmed air traffic at Copenhagen airport had received threats, but said that at no point was there any danger to passengers.
The French prime minister’s office also said a quartet of fresh bomb threats had been made to planes flying over French territory on Friday, adding that all had landed safely, FranceInfo reported.
The threats build on multiple others received by airlines from countries across the length and breadth of Europe earlier this week.
No information has been revealed about who is behind the threats or whether they are connected.
The spate of bomb threats against airlines comes after several supermarket chains across Europe reported technical incidents with their refrigerator systems, including rising temperatures, with companies blaming potential cyberattacks.
Incidents were reported in Belgium, Ireland, and Sweden, among other countries, on Nov. 2, following similar attacks that took place across France last month.
