Hoax bomb threats continue; Mumbai-Delhi IndiGo flight diverted to Ahmedabad

A day after seven flights were affected due to hoax bomb threats, a Delhi-bound IndiGo aircraft from Mumbai was diverted to Ahmedabad because of the same reason early on Wednesday (October 16). This was the 11th flight in three days to be affected due to a hoax bomb threat.

During the day, the 191 passengers of an Air India flight, who were stranded at Canada’s Iqaluit airport after the flight was diverted due to a hoax bomb threat, were flown to Chicago on a Canadian Air Force aircraft more than 18 hours later. The flight had 211 people, including 20 crew members.

Emergency landing

The IndiGo flight took off from Mumbai on Tuesday (October 15) night. Soon after that, an unidentified person tweeted that a bomb had been placed in the aircraft, which was carrying nearly 200 passengers and crew, an official from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport told the media.

After being alerted by the Mumbai ATC, the pilots decided to make an emergency landing at Ahmedabad airport, which was the closest airport when the flight was on way to Delhi, said the official.

Also read: Singapore fighter jets, Canada landing: Plight of 7 flights after hoax bomb threats

After landing in Ahmedabad around midnight, the aircraft was thoroughly checked by the security agencies overnight. However, nothing suspicious was found. The flight took-off for Delhi around 8 am on Wednesday morning after getting a green signal from the security personnel, the official said.

All flights clean

Several flights have received similar hoax bomb threats in the last couple of days.

On Monday, three international flights originating from Mumbai received bomb threats. While a New York-bound Air India flight was diverted to New Delhi and rescheduled, the other two, both operated by IndiGo, were delayed by several hours.

Nothing suspicious was found on any of the planes, police officials had said.

Singapore fighter jets

Apart from Air India’s Delhi-Chicago flight, six other Indian flights on Tuesday received bomb threat messages through a social media handle.

Singapore Armed Forces on Tuesday scrambled two fighter jets to escort an Air India Express plane away from populated areas following a bomb threat before the aircraft landed safely at Singapore's Changi airport.

The Air India Express plane operating flight IX 684 from Madurai to Singapore had received a bomb threat.

Also read: Hoax bomb threats affect 500 passengers on 3 flights from Mumbai

AI passengers flown to Chicago

The passengers of flight AI127, which was diverted to Iqaluit in Canada on October 15, were on their way to their destination, Chicago, Air India said in a statement on Wednesday (October 16).

“Passengers are being ferried on a Canadian Air Force aircraft that has taken off from Iqaluit at 03.54 hrs UTC and is expected to land in Chicago at around 07:48 hrs UTC,” the airline said.

The UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) of 03.54 hours was around 11.54 pm local time in Iqaluit on Tuesday. The flight had landed at Iqaluit airport at around 05:21 am local time.

Air India also thanked the Canadian authorities and the authorities at Iqaluit airport for their support and assistance extended to the passengers and the airline during this unexpected disruption.

(With agency inputs)