Phuket: An Air India flight, that took off from Phuket in Thailand for Delhi on Friday morning, returned and made an emergency landing at the airport after a bomb threat. There were 156 passengers on board.
According to Reuters, flight AI 379 has landed safely and passengers were escorted from the plane. One of the passengers, who found a note inside the aircraft mentioning a bomb, is being interrogated. This is normal procedure, an official said.
Officials also said that a preliminary search of the aircraft did not result in the recovery of any suspicious item.
The aircraft took off from Phuket airport for Delhi at 9.30 am local time (8 am IST) on Friday, but made a wide loop around the Andaman Sea and landed back at the Thai island, according to flight tracker Flightradar24.
Sources close to Air India said: “A security alert was detected on Air India flight from Phuket to Delhi. The crew carried out all the laid down security drills keeping passenger safety and security in mind. The flight has returned to Phuket and is undergoing mandatory regulatory checks. All passengers and crew have been disembarked safely.”
The incident gains significance as it comes a day after an Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner crashed within seconds after take-off from the Ahmedabad airport on Thursday afternoon. The aircraft with 242 people on board, was on its way to Gatwick in London. The crash led to the deaths of 241 passengers and crew and several people on the ground.
Airlines in India and airports were inundated with hoax bomb threats in 2024. Authorities say that nearly 1,000 hoax calls and messages were received in the first 10 months, nearly 10 times that of 2023.
