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Belarus accused of hijacking plane
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-5722445
Quote:
Western countries have condemned Belarus for diverting a plane flying over it territory to arrest a Belarusian opposition journalist.
EU leaders are due to discuss their response to what the union's executive called a "hijacking" and the US state department said was "a shocking act".
Belarus scrambled a fighter jet to force the plane - bound for Lithuania - to land, claiming a bomb threat.
Police came and took Roman Protasevich away when passengers disembarked.
The 26-year-old was aboard the Ryanair plane, which was flying from the Greek ]capital, Athens. The aircraft was due to land in Vilnius, but was still in Belarusian airspace when it was told to divert it to their own capital, Minsk.
Witnesses said the activist was "super-scared" and told fellow passengers he would face the death penalty.
State media in Belarus said President Alexander Lukashenko had personally given the order for the move. The plane landed in Vilnius more than six hours after its scheduled arrival.
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Quote:
How was the flight diverted?
Flight FR4978 turned east to Minsk shortly before it reached the Lithuanian border. Greece and Lithuania put the number of passengers on board at 171.
In a statement, Ryanair said the crew had been "notified by Belarus (Air Traffic Control) of a potential security threat on board and were instructed to divert to the nearest airport, Minsk".
But Tadeusz Giczan - the editor of Nexta, the media outlet Mr Protasevich used to work for - tweeted that agents from Belarusian security service the KGB had boarded the plane and were the source of the bomb alert.
The flight path, visible on the Flightradar24 website, suggests the plane was actually nearer to Vilnius than Minsk when it turned.
Ryanair said checks in Minsk found "nothing untoward", but made no mention of Mr Protasevich.
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