An Aer Lingus flight from Dublin to Rome has been diverted to a major military base in Evreux in France after a bomb alert, the French prime minister's office said. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing The Guardian.

The PM's office said the government was "monitoring the situation closely." The flight, EIN40G, is operated by an Airbus A320. It was circling above France and was expected to start its descent to Evreux shortly.

The incident comes just two days after seven planes across Europe were searched or diverted after malicious hoax bomb alerts.

Diverted flight lands at French military base

The plane appeared to have just touched down in Evreux, according to Flightradar24's tracking service. We will no doubt hear more from authorities in due course.

Bomb squad in place, passengers and crew moved to safe place, France says

The French PM's office confirmed the plane landed safely at Evreux with a bomb squad unit in place to inspect the aircraft. It said 151 passengers and six crew on board were moved to a safe place.

Le Figaro is reporting the plane was escorted on approach by a French Rafale fighter jet. BFMTV says the original bomb threat alert came from the Italian authorities.

Timeline of events

The plane crossed the English Channel on a normal flight path to Rome before veering south-west of Paris and circling Chartres airport and diverting towards Evreux. Curiously, in the last few minutes it flew right past the airport in Evreux without touching down.

Flightradar24, one of the largest flight tracker websites in the world, also said that "no aircraft have departed from Rome Fiumicino Airport (FCO) in the past 30 minutes."

Wave of bomb threats across Europe

Earlier this week, seven planes across Europe were searched or diverted after a series of bomb threats were made to passenger flights. The alarms affected flights operated by LOT Polish Airlines, SAS, WizzAir, and Ryanair. Two of the flights also involved Rome Fiumicino airport, amid broader false bomb alarms in the country, which also affected 280 schools.

The incident is a continuation of a wave of false bomb alerts on flights across Europe.