President of the European Council Charles Michel called for an International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) probe into an emergency landing of a Ryanair passenger plane at Minsk Airport over a bomb threat that later turned out to be fake.
An unregistered Belarusian human rights organization said earlier in the day that Roman Protasevich — founder of a telegram channel that Minsk designated as extremist — was on board of a Ryanair flight from Athens to Vilnius and got detained in Minsk airport when the plane made an emergency landing. The Belarusian Interior Ministry confirmed the detention of Protasevich.
“Very concerned regarding reports of a forced landing of #Ryanair flight in Minsk. We call on Belarus authorities to immediately release the flight and all its passengers.
