An Olympic Airlines flight carrying Greek European parliamentarians from Greece to France made an emergency landing in Munich, Germany, on Monday after a bomb threat was reported, German air traffic control officials said.
The Boeing 737 — en route from Athens, Greece, to Strasbourg, France — landed at 10:45 a.m. at a special area of the airport set aside for emergencies, spokeswoman Anja Tomic said.
Munich airport spokesman Peter Pruemm said the plane belonged to Greece’s Olympic Airlines and that “the pilot apparently said there was a bomb threat.” He said the plane had 137 people on board, all of whom safely evacuated shortly after the landing.
“We have landed and everything is OK,” Stavros Lambrinidis, a socialist member of the European Parliament, told Greece’s state-run NET television in a telephone interview from Munich. “We were told about the bomb threat, but everyone remained calm.”
Members of European Parliament on board
Athens airport spokeswoman Marina Papageorgiou said 136 people were on board the plane, the Greek Foreign Ministry said included 11 Greek members of the European Parliament. The parliament was to open a session in Strasbourg later Monday. There was no immediate explanation for the discrepancy in the total number of people on board.
The plane, flight number OA145 was over Croatia when the threat was reported, according to Greek officials.
Greek police said they had received a bomb threat, but that the flight number identified by the person or people making the threat did not exist. The plane that landed in Munich had the closest flight number.
“We have informed our consular authorities in Munich, which ... sent staff to the airport and are cooperating with German authorities,” Greek Foreign Ministry spokesman Giorgos Koumoutsakos told state-run NET television.
“I hope it was a hoax, but we are looking into the issue and we hope to have it cleared up soon,” he said.
Giorgos Kassimatis, a passenger on the plane, told NET that “we have landed and everything is fine. There was a bomb threat so that’s why we landed in Munich.”
