ICAO Countries Hear Report On Hijacking Of Ryanair Plane In Minsk And Make Decision

What happens next?

Information provided by Belarus about the 2021 emergency landing incident in Minsk of a Ryanair flight has "gaps and inconsistencies", several ICAO member states believe. They have expressed their concern over this issue, reads the statement of the organization.

On January 31, member states of the ICAO Council reviewed the report on the investigation into the events related to the emergency landing of a Ryanair plane in Minsk, on which Belarusian opposition blogger Raman Pratasevich and Russian citizen Sofia Sapega were flying.

"The Council expressed its concern about the gaps in the information provided by Belarus and the inconsistencies contained in the evidence available at the time of the investigation with regard to crucial aspects of the factual reconstruction of the events. The Council stressed that the bomb threat against FR4978 was deliberately false and threatened the safety of the aircraft during the flight," according to the press release.

The Council also reminded that communicating false information threatening the safety of an aircraft is an offence under the Montreal Convention and strongly condemned the practice.

The team investigating the Ryanair incident has been instructed to continue its work in order to establish the missing facts.

Representatives of Belarus, Lithuania, Poland and Ireland took part in the discussions. These countries are not members of the ICAO Council but are related to the proceedings.