Moscow-Goa flight diverted after bomb threat; nothing found after search

In a repeat of an incident two weeks ago, a Moscow-Goa chartered flight with 247 passengers on board was diverted to Uzbekistan early on Saturday (January 21) following a bomb threat, police said.

The Russian embassy later issued a statement: “The plane flying from Perm to Goa, which made an emergency landing in Uzbekistan because of a bomb threat, will resume its journey at 20:00 GMT. No dangerous substances were found onboard.”

The flight (AZV2463), operated by Azur Air, was scheduled to land at Dabolim airport in South Goa at 4.15 am, a senior police official said. It was yet to enter the Indian airspace when the Goa Airport (Dabolim) director received an email with the warning of the threat.

“It was diverted after an email was received at 12.30 am by the Dabolim airport director that mentioned a bomb being planted on the plane,” the official said.

Repeat of January 9 incident

The incident occurred nearly two weeks after a Moscow-Goa chartered flight by the same airlines made an emergency landing at Gujarat’s Jamnagar airport following a bomb threat. That plane had 236 passengers aboard. On that occasion, too, nothing untoward was found on the plane and it later few into Goa.

Within days of this incident, a Delhi-Pune SpiceJet flight was delayed after the IGI Airport control room received a call warning of a bomb on the plane. The aircraft was then moved to an isolation bay and thoroughly searched by security officials.

Later, a 24-year-old trainee ticketing agent of British Airways was arrested for allegedly making the hoax call to help his friends spend more time with two women who were about to leave on that flight.

(With agency inputs)