Ryanair: Dublin flight diverted due to security threat

A Ryanair flight travelling from the Republic of Ireland to Poland diverted to Germany due to a potential security threat, the airline has confirmed.

Flight FR1901 departed from Dublin just before 17:00 local time on Sunday.

During the flight, German air traffic control notified the crew of a "potential security threat on board," a Ryanair spokesman told BBC News NI.

The captain diverted to the nearest airport, Berlin, where passengers disembarked for security checks.

"Once cleared by German authorities, passengers travelled onwards to Krakow on a spare Ryanair aircraft after a delay on the ground of approximately seven hours," the airline's spokesman added.

"Ryanair apologises sincerely to all affected passengers for this unavoidable delay, which was outside the airline's control."

The German newspaper Bild Zeitung reported the flight made an emergency landing at Berlin Brandenburg Airport due to a "bomb threat".

Quoting an airport spokesman, the paper said all 160 passengers had to get out of the plane while German police searched for a suspicious item on board.

Nothing was found during the operation.

The diversion came a week after another Ryanair flight from Greece to Lithuania was forced to land in Belarus under military escort.

Belarus authorities said they had received a bomb threat about the aircraft, but when the plane landed in Minsk, Belarusian dissident journalist Roman Protasevich and his Russian girlfriend Sofia Sapega were both arrested.

The European Union leaders issued a joint statement condemning the arrests and calling on all EU-based airlines to avoid Belarusian airspace.