Belarus officials; plane landing due to bomb threat

Belarusian officials have reiterated that a plane that was grounded in the country on Sunday had to do so because it faced a bomb threat on board.

The Athens-Vilnius Ryanair flight was diverted off course while flying in Belarusian airspace and landed in the country's capital Minsk, after which one of the passengers, a prominent Belarusian government critic, was reportedly taken off board and detained.

Belarusian opposition figures said it was a deliberate plot against Raman Pratasevich, who was on board the flight and had ran a popular messaging app that played a key role in helping organize massive protests against Belarus' authoritarian president.

European leaders called Sunday's incident a "state-sponsored terror act" and demanded Minsk release Pratasevich.