Turkish Airlines Flight Emergency Lands After WiFi Bomb Hoax

A Turkish Airlines flight from Istanbul to Barcelona made an emergency landing at El Prat Airport on Thursday morning after crew detected a bomb threat originating from a passenger's inflight wireless network, prompting a military escort and swift security response.

The Airbus A321, flight TK1853, departed Istanbul at around 11 a.m. local time carrying 148 passengers and seven crew members. As the aircraft approached its destination over the Mediterranean Sea near the Italian coast, roughly an hour into the flight, the threat was identified. According to a spokesperson for the airline, Yahya Üstün, "it was detected that a passenger established an inflight internet access point and set the network name to include a bomb threat." This led the captain to declare an emergency, triggering standard protocols for potential onboard dangers.

Spanish and French fighter jets were scrambled to intercept and escort the plane, guiding it safely toward Barcelona. Flight tracking data indicated the aircraft had just passed Sardinia when the alert was raised, using an emergency code typically associated with urgent situations. The plane circled the airport three times before touching down on...