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Updated May 26th, 2021 at 11:36 IST

Ryanair pilot repeatedly questioned decision to land in Minsk, authorities said 'code red'

The Ryanair pilot repeatedly questioned the decision to land in Minsk, reveals the transcript released by Belarus’s government aviation agency on May 25.

Reported by: Aanchal Nigam
Ryanair
IMAGE: Twitter | Image:self
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The Ryanair pilot, who decided to land his plane in Belarus on Sunday even though flight FR4978 en route Greece to Lithuania was closer to Vilnius than Minsk, repeatedly questioned about an alleged bomb threat before ultimately agreeing to land in the Belarusian capital, as per the transcript of the controller released on May 25 by authorities in the Eastern European nation. As per BBC report, the passengers of the Ryanair flight have said that the journey from the Greek capital, Athens to Vilnius in Lithuania on Sunday afternoon was calm until the plane began its descent and made a sudden change of plans that included the detention of Belarusian journalist Roman Protasevich and his Russian girlfriend Sofia Sapega in Minsk. 

The western nations have continuously sounded an alarm over the incident and termed it hijacking or piracy. While the excerpts of the transcript released by Belarus state TV earlier indicated that the crew had asked to land in Minsk, the portions made public on Tuesday by Belarus’s government aviation agency reveals that the pilot had questioned the request to land in the Belarusian capital. 

At one instance, according to the transcript published online, the controller said, “For your information, we have information from special services that you have bomb on board and it can be activated over Vilnius.” After asking for them to “standby” the pilot reportedly asked for an “alternate” and even questioned where did the message come from. To this, ATC replied, “Airport security staff informed they received e-mail” before adding that the message was sent to several airports.

The pilot reportedly again asks, “ Again, this recommendation to divert to Minsk where did it come from? Where did it come from? Company? Did it come from departure airport authorities or arrival airport authorities?” before questioning, “I need answer the question: what is the code of the (unreadable) green, yellow or amber, red.”

In a reply to this, the controller said, “They say code is red.”

Belarus said threat was from Hamas

The detention of Belarusian journalist stirred a global response as reportedly the leading opposition figure Pavel Latushko alleged Belarus had threatened to shoot down the plane. Following the bomb scare mid-flight, upon landing, the 126 passengers of the plane that was escorted by a MiG 29 fighter jet, disembarked but Protasevich and Sapega were arrested by the police. While Belarus later claimed that the Ryanair flight was diverted due to a bomb threat from Hamas, the Palestinian militant group denied any involvement. Even German Chancellor Angela Merkel described the claim by Belarus as “completely implausible.”

IMAGE: Twitter
 

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Published May 26th, 2021 at 11:36 IST

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