20th In A Week: Vistara's Frankfurt-Mumbai Flight Receives Bomb Threat

20th In A Week: Vistara’s Frankfurt-Mumbai Flight Receives Bomb Threat

New Delhi: In yet another instance, Vistara’s Frankfurt-Mumbai flight received a bomb threat on social media. In this case, the pilot declared a general emergency. The flight landed safely at the Mumbai airport early Thursday.

This takes the count of bomb threats received by Indian carriers this week to 20 flights. While the security checks for the latest case were underway, the earlier 19 threats turned out to be fake.

The Vistara Frankfurt-Mumbai flight — UK 28 — was flying over Pakistan when it squawked 7700, the code for a general emergency at around 6 am (IST) on Thursday, according to flight tracking data. The aircraft continued to its destination Mumbai, where it landed at around 7:40 am, The Indian Express reported.

“Vistara flight UK 028…was subject to a security threat received on social media. As per protocol, all relevant authorities were immediately informed. The aircraft safely landed at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, Mumbai and was taken to the isolation bay where all customers were disembarked. We are fully cooperating with the security agencies to complete the mandatory security checks,” a Vistara spokesperson said.

Notably, three international flights of Indian carriers received bomb threats on Monday, while another ten flights received threats on Tuesday. On Wednesday, there were at least six threats. All the threats came via social media platforms and eventually turned out to be fake. Apart from small regional airlines, all major scheduled Indian carriers have received these bomb threats.

Union Civil Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu Wednesday said that the Mumbai Police has apprehended a minor responsible for issuing bomb threats to three flights, and added that others responsible for the disruptions will be identified and prosecuted.

The relevant government ministries — including the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) — and agencies have gone into a huddle because of these bomb threats. The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) is understood to be working closely with the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) to formalise an earlier proposal of putting the perpetrators of hoax bomb threats on the no-fly list.

Security agencies and police forces in different parts of the country are probing the threats and trying to trace and nab those behind them. Sources indicated that security has been tightened and emergency response personnel put on alert at various Indian airports.