MINSK, May 30. /TASS/. The Ryanair flight made an emergency landing in Minsk on May 23 because airports in Brest and Grodno were closed on that day, Artyom Sikorsky, head of the Belarusian transport ministry’s aviation department, said on Sunday.
"Only Minsk’s and Gomel’s airport were operating on Sunday. The latter is a round-the-clock alternative airport," he said in an interview with the STV television channel.
According to Sikorsky, the airport in Minsk was the closest one when the plane entered Belarus’ airspace.
A passenger jet belonging to Ryanair, an Irish low-cost airline, performing a flight from Athens to Vilnius on May 23 made an emergency landing at Minsk International Airport after a bomb threat on board the plane had been reported. The plane was escorted to Minsk airport by a MiG-29 fighter jet and landed safely. Upon inspection, no bomb was found. Roman Protasevich, one of the co-founders of the Nexta Telegram channel, which was recognized as extremist in Belarus, was among the passengers. Protasevich, currently living in Lithuania and wanted in Belarus, was detained after the airliner had landed in the Belarusian capital. The plane left Minsk and continued to Vilnius later the same day.
On May 25, the Belarusian transport ministry’s aviation department released a transcript of the Ryanair pilot’s talks with a Belarusian air traffic controller, who informed the pilot about a bomb threat and recommended to land the plane in Minsk. The pilot agreed.