Specialists Determine Bomb Threat On Romanian Timisoara Airport Was False Alarm

Timisoara Transport Police chief Dan Peteri said the officers under his command checked two planes, one belonging to airline Wizzair, the other to Carpatair. „Investigations ascertained there was no explosive device aboard either plane,” he said.

Timisoara Antiterrorist Department (DIICOT) head Mircea Andres confirmed that standard procedure was followed and the alarm was proven to have been false.

Police officers are currently questioning the man aboard the Bucharest-Timisoara Carpatair flight who was indicated by the crank caller. The caller himself was identified as a 49 year old man living in the southeastern city of Constanta, and has been detained by DIICOT agents.

The incident caused nine flights to be delayed by about an hour, while the Wizzair flight from Timisoara to London, which should have left at 6.30 a.m., will depart at 12.30 p.m..

A flight of Romanian airliner Carpatair that took off Wednesday morning from Bucharest and landed in Timisoara was checked following suspicions of a bomb threat aboard. Previously, the bomb was thought to be aboard a Wizzair flight from Timisoara to London. The plane landed minutes after take off and its 165 passengers were evacuated.