BULGARIA: Burgas airport closed as investigators pick out clues about a blast which killed 6 Israeli tourists and injured more than 30 people

Record ID: 359457

  • Title: BULGARIA: Burgas airport closed as investigators pick out clues about a blast which killed 6 Israeli tourists and injured more than 30 people
  • Date: 19th July 2012
  • Summary: BOY STANDING NEXT TO COT WITH BABY SITTING PEOPLE STANDING IN FRONT OF AIRPORT GATE
  • Embargoed: 3rd August 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Bulgaria
  • Country: Bulgaria
  • Topics: Crime
  • Reuters ID: LVA4RYRWH9NSW813KUCP40N7O226
  • Story Text: Tourists hoping to return home were left stranded early on Thursday (July 19) morning outside the Bulgarian airport where a bomb blew up a bus carrying Israeli tourists on Wednesday and which Tel Aviv has blamed on Iran.
    Bulgarian authorities closed Burgas airport and sealed off the car park where the explosion ripped through the double-decker to allow investigators to pin down exactly what had happened.
    The explosion killed 6 people and injured more than 30.
    Police said that flights were redirected to the airport of Varna. Tourists were stranded at the airport as it was checked for other explosive devices.
    Israel's flag carrier El Al cancelled an afternoon flight and a spokeswoman said nothing had been decided about Thursday's flights.
    The blast comes on the 18th anniversary of a 1994 bomb attack on the headquarters of Argentina's main Jewish organisation by an Iranian-backed Hezbollah suicide bomber, which killed 85 people.
    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed Iran and said Israel would respond.
    Israeli officials had previously said that Bulgaria, a popular holiday destination for Israeli tourists, was vulnerable to attack by Islamist militants who could infiltrate via Turkey.
    The incident was not reported by Iranian media and there was no immediate Iranian reaction to the Israeli accusation.
    Israeli diplomats have been targeted in several countries in recent months by bombers who Israel said struck on behalf of Iran.
    Israel has threatened air strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities if diplomatic efforts fail to rein in its programme. Israel and Western powers accuse Iran of working towards a nuclear bomb, but Tehran says its research is strictly for peaceful ends.
    Bulgaria raised security at all airports, bus and railway stations after the explosion. Sofia Mayor Yordanka Fandakova also boosted policing at public places linked to the Jewish community in Bulgaria's capital.
    The blast damaged several other buses in the car park outside the airport at Burgas, where they were waiting to ferry tourists to resorts along the Black Sea coast. Stunned travellers hugged one another in shock at the carnage and passengers were kept away from the scene Israel has sent security officials to help with the investigation and its military was sending two planes to Burgas, one with medical crews to provide assistance to the injured and fly them home and another with forensic experts. A third plane with medics from the emergency services was also on its way.
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