Three passenger planes scheduled to land at Vilnius Airport overnight Monday were diverted to Kaunas and Riga after unidentified objects, later determined to be smuggling balloons, were detected in Lithuanian airspace.
The National Crisis Management Centre told BNS that 34 radar signals were recorded during the night, and the State Border Guard Service discovered six contraband cargo packages.
Tadas Vasiliauskas, a spokesman for Lithuanian Airports, said flights from Tenerife and Madeira were diverted to Kaunas Airport, while a flight from Amsterdam was redirected to Riga Airport.
A total of 470 passengers were affected. Those diverted to Kaunas reached their destinations by bus, while passengers from the Riga flight later returned to Vilnius by air.
Air navigation spokeswoman Ingrida Daugirdė told BNS that temporary restrictions for aircraft arriving in Vilnius were imposed after authorities received information about an unidentified object spotted in the airspace.
Departing flights from Vilnius were not affected, she added.
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