RT.com
20 Jan 2022, 00:13 GMT+10
The international body believes the bomb threat was faked
An investigation by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) into last year's grounding of a Ryanair flight in Belarus discovered inconsistencies in Minsk's story but could not attribute blame, it has been reported.
On May 23, a Ryanair plane flying from Athens to Vilnius was forced to make an emergency landing in Minsk due to an alleged bomb threat. Once on the ground, the plane was boarded, and the Belarusian authorities arrested passengers Roman Protasevich, an opposition activist, and his girlfriend, Sofia Sapega.
The events were later dubbed "state-sponsored piracy," with some suggesting that the bomb-threat plot was faked to arrest the couple. The event led to many nations banning their airlines from flying in the airspace of Belarus.
More than half a year later, the ICAO, the United Nations' international air navigation agency, has completed a report into the event, due to be presented on January 31. The report is based on data provided to the ICAO by numerous countries.
According to the Moscow-based Novaya Gazeta, which obtained the report, the ICAO investigation team found inconsistencies in the testimony of the Belarusian authorities, such as the time the bomb threat was received. The email, which arrived at the Minsk airport inbox, was allegedly sent at 12:56, according to information obtained from Switzerland through the Lithuanian authorities. However, a screenshot provided by Belarus had a completely different timestamp - 12:25.
The ICAO also noted several instances of Minsk's non-compliance with standard air procedures, according to Novaya. For example, the passengers remained on the aircraft after landing while special services boarded, despite a bomb potentially waiting to explode.
However, according to a quote from the report published by online news site The Aviation Herald, the ICAO investigation did not conclude that Belarus was definitely behind the fake threat.
"As neither a bomb nor evidence of its existence was found during pre-departure screening in Athens, Greece and after various searches of the aircraft in Belarus and Lithuania, it is considered that the bomb threat was deliberately false," the report says. "The Team was unable to attribute the commission of this act of unlawful interference to any individual or State."
Earlier in January, the Deputy Head of the Minsk Department of the Investigative Committee of Belarus, Andrey Motolko, suggested that recordings of conversations between the Belarusian dispatcher and the pilot of the aircraft, distributed by Poland, showed signs of editing and could be fake. He offered no evidence for the claim.
(RT.com)
Get a daily dose of Greek Herald news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Greek Herald.
More InformationMOLINE, Illinois: After missing Wall Street revenue targets, Deere and Co. said it was having difficulty securing parts for its ...
HANOI, Vietnam: Vietnam's government announced that it has removed Le Hai Tra, general director of the Ho Chi Minh Stock ...
NEW YORK CITY, New York: Tech firms have slowed or frozen hiring, and even accelerated layoffs, in response to the ...
MOSCOW, Russia: McDonald's has announced that it will sell all its branches in Russia to one of its local licensees, ...
NEW DELHI, India: Skyroot, India's first privately held company to design, build and test a solid rocket propulsion system, successfully ...
DUBLIN, Ireland: In a message sent to the international high tech community, Ireland's state planning watchdog has ordered the South ...
New Delhi [India], May 26 (ANI): Weeks after the Central government banned wheat exports to control price rise, the Centre ...
Kabul [Afghanistan], May 26 (ANI): The Taliban have signed an agreement with the United Arab Emirates on operating airports in ...
ATHENS - Greece will send Iranian oil from a seized Russian-flagged tanker to the United States at the request of ...
Washington - The United States' top negotiator for Iran nuclear talks made the case to lawmakers Wednesday for sticking with ...
Paul Blackburn allowed only one hit in 5 1/3 scoreless innings as the Oakland Athletics escaped the American League West ...
ANKARA, Turkey - A senior Turkish official insisted after talks with Swedish and Finnish officials Wednesday that Turkey would not ...