MINSK, June 24./TASS/. The Belarusian Department for Aviation has received an interim report from the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) on the May 23 Ryanair flight incident, the department reported on its website on Thursday.
It said that as of June 18, 2021, Belarus had referred 52 documents, audio and video data to the ICAO. The Department continues to send documents to the ICAO and closely cooperates with its team investigating the incident to establish the objective circumstances.
On May 23, a Vilnius-bound Ryanair flight that took off from Athens was forced to make an emergency landing in the Belarusian capital of Minsk after a reported bomb threat. A Mikoyan MiG-29 jet was scrambled to escort the plane into Minsk. The bomb threat came up empty after the aircraft had landed. The Belarusian authorities specified later that Roman Protasevich, wanted in Belarus as a co-founder of the Nexta Telegram channel, which the Belarusian authorities recognized as extremist, had been among the flight’s passengers. He was detained by Belarusian law enforcement agents. Following the incident, the European Union barred Belarusian air companies from operating flights to EU airports and using the European Union’s airspace, and recommended that European air carriers should avoid Belarusian airspace.