Russian plane crash: Polish plane to Sinai diverted after passenger's drunken bomb scare

A Polish passenger plane travelling to the Egyptian holiday resort of Hurghada was forced to make an emergency landing in Bulgaria after a drunken passenger caused a bomb scare as the plane flew to the Sinai peninsula.

A police spokeswoman has confirmed the passenger who made the bogus claims had been drinking alcohol before he alerted cabin crew. The flight was forced to land at Burgas airport on the Black Sea and all crew and passengers were evacuated, Reuters reported.

Polish airline LOT, which operated the charter flight, said the plane landed at the Bulgarian airport shortly before 6am. No explosives were found on board.

"The plane landed in Burgas at 05.48am after a request for flight number LLP8015 travelling from Warsaw to Hurghada to make an emergency landing, due to a report of the presence of explosives on board," a spokeswoman was quoted as saying.

The scare comes as passenger airlines increase their vigilance in the wake of last month's Metrojet flight 9268 crash which killed 224 while flying over the Sinai.

Islamic State's Egyptian affiliate claimed responsibility for the downing of the plane. The militant group's Dabiq magazine has published pictures of a soft-drink can, a detonator and a switch which it claims was used to bring down the aircraft.

Russian officials have confirmed the flight was brought down by an explosive device and announced that it most likely exploded inside the cabin itself as opposed to in the cargo hold. Egyptian authorities have arrested two member of the Metrojet ground support crew in connection to ongoing investigations.