'They say code is red': transcript of controller telling plane to land in Minsk
MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Ryanair pilot who landed his plane in Belarus on Sunday repeatedly questioned information about an alleged bomb threat, before ultimately agreeing to land in Minsk, according to a transcript released on Tuesday by authorities in Belarus.
Belarus scrambled a warplane to escort the flight, which was en route from Greece to Lithuania. When the plane landed in Minsk, Belarusian authorities arrested a dissident journalist. Western countries have described the incident as a hijacking or piracy.
The transcript released on Tuesday differs from excerpts previously released by Belarus state TV, which had attributed some of the pilot's remarks to the controller. State TV had pointed to its version to argue that the pilot had asked to land in Minsk, rather than that the controller had advised him to do so.
-snip-
CONTROLLER INFORMS PILOT OF BOMB, SUGGESTS LANDING IN MINSK
Controller: Minsk
Pilot: Yes, go ahead.
Controller: For your information, we have information from special services that you have bomb on board and it can be activated over Vilnius.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/they-say-code-is-red-transcript-of-controller-telling-plane-to-land-in-minsk/ar-AAKmStM
