A Ryanair plane made an emergency landing in Belarus following an alleged bomb scare with a journalist onboard ‘detained’.
A total of 170 people from 12 countries were on the aircraft when the drama unfolded mid-flight.
SU-29 military fighter and MI-24 helicopter were scrambled to help divert the plane from Vilnius to Minsk in Lithuanian.
Law enforcers detained activist Roman Protasevich, 26, who had been put on a wanted list after last year’s mass street protests following an election in which Lukashenko claimed a landslide victory.
The aircraft, flying from Athens to Vilnius, had almost reached Lithuania when it changed direction and was escorted to the Belarusian capital of Minsk amid reports that it had explosives on board, according to an online flight tracker and BelTA.
(Image: NEXTA)
Lukashenko personally ordered the warplane to escort the Boeing to Minsk, state news agency BelTA reported.
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda condemned Belarus’s actions, demanding Protasevich be released and calling on for an international response.
“I call on NATO and EU allies to immediately react to the threat posed to international civil aviation by the Belarus regime.
“The international community must take immediate steps that this does not repeat,” Nauseda said.
Lithuanian presidential adviser Asta Skaisgiryte said the operation to force-land the plane seemed to be pre-planned.
She said Belarus intelligence services knew who was onboard the plane, which was forced to land with the help of MIG-29 fighter jet.
(Image: NEXTA)
(Image: Roman Protasevich)
Protasevich had lived in Vilnius since November, she said.
Lithuania is now a member of the European Union, Belarus is not.
Belarusian opposition Telegram channel Nexta confirmed its former editor, and exiled opposition activist Roman Protasevich, had been detained at Minsk airport after the emergency landing.
“The plane was checked, no bomb was found and all passengers were sent for another security search,” Nexta said. “Among them was… Nexta journalist Roman Protasevich. He was detained.”
(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
It’s understood around 95 passengers on the flight were Lithuanians.
The Belarus department for organised crime control also reported that Protasevich had been detained but then deleted the statement from its Telegram channel.
A Lithuanian airport authority spokeswoman told Reuters the plane, scheduled to land in Vilnius earlier on Sunday, was now expected to land at 1500 GMT or later.
Ryanair had no immediate comment.