India’s Bureau of Civil Aviation Security has initiated an investigation after 10 flights were grounded in less than 48 hours due to hoax bomb threats, media reports said.
According to officials, the threats were issued from an unverified handle on X, formerly Twitter.
The Ministry of Civil Aviation has called a high-level meeting for Wednesday following the series of bomb threats received by the Indian carriers.
Police sources told ANI, “We have identified and suspended several accounts that were posting threats on social media regarding bombs in airplanes. It has been informed some threats originated from London and from other countries.”
An Air India direct flight en route to Chicago from New Delhi was diverted to Canada’s Iqaluit Airport on Tuesday after a hoax bomb threat was posted online.
On Tuesday itself, the Air India Delhi-Chicago flight, Dammam-Lucknow IndiGo flight, Ayodhya-Bengaluru Air India Express, a SpiceJet flight from Darbhanga to Mumbai (SG116), an Akasa Air flight from Bagdogra to Bengaluru (QP 1373) an Alliance Air Amritsar-Dehradun-Delhi flight (9I 650) and an Air India Express flight (IX 684) from Madurai to Singapore received bomb threats.
Two IndiGo and one Air India flight also received fake threats on Monday.
“We are cognisant of a situation involving flight 6E 98 from Dammam, Saudi Arabia to Lucknow. The safety and security of our passengers and crew is our highest priority and we are working closely with the relevant authorities and taking all necessary precautions as per the guidelines,” IndiGo said after the flight was grounded following a fake bomb threat.
Another SpiceJet aircraft landed safely at the Mumbai airport and was directed to an isolation bay as a precautionary measure.
“All passengers disembarked normally and security agencies were immediately notified. After thorough security checks, the aircraft has been cleared for further operations,” a SpiceJet spokesperson said.
An Akasa Air spokesperson said their flight received a security alert on board.
“The captain followed all required emergency procedures and landed safely at the Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru at 13:39 hours. All passengers were deplaned and the local authorities undertook the necessary safety and security checks after which the aircraft was released for operations,” the spokesperson said.
Earlier, an Air India Express flight was forced to make an emergency landing at Ayodhya airport in Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday due to a bomb threat, according to the airport’s Director, Vinod Kumar, media reports said.
