Doll Box Sparks Terror Scare on Israel-Bound Flight — Hebrew Word Looks Like ‘Bomb’
Brief panic over a label on a toy box caused a short delay on a flight from Cyprus to Israel on Tuesday when an aircraft cleaner thought it was a warning of a bomb.
The Aegean Airlines flight bound for Tel Aviv via Larnaca, was searched by police at the Cypriot airport on Tuesday after a cleaner found a label with the word “Booba” on it in the Latin alphabet.
“Booba,” which means doll in Hebrew, looks alarmingly like “bomba,” or ‘bomb’ in Greek.
“Cyprus’s civil aviation authority checked it and there was no problem. There was a small delay, but the alarm was lifted immediately,” an Aegean Airlines spokeswoman said in Athens.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30