Air India bomb threat: Phuket-New Delhi flight makes emergency landing after alert

An Air India flight from Phuket to New Delhi made an emergency landing due to a bomb threat, reported Reuters, citing airport authorities.

Air India AI 379, carrying 156 passengers, took off from Phuket Airport at 9:30 am. on Friday. The flight made a wide loop around the Andaman Sea and landed again on the southern Thai island. All the passengers were evacuated from the plane.

Air India plane crash

The latest bomb threat comes a day after another Air India flight crashed in Ahmedabad on Thursday shortly after takeoff, killing 241 passengers out of 242 on board. “The 12-year-old Boeing 787-8 aircraft departed from Ahmedabad at 1338 hrs, carrying 230 passengers and 12 crew,” Air India informed on X.

"The sole survivor is being treated in a hospital," it added.

The passengers comprised 169 Indian nationals, 53 British nationals, 7 Portuguese nationals and 1 Canadian national. The survivor is a British national of Indian origin.

A portion of the plane fell onto the hostel of BJ Medical College and civil hospital during lunchtime. Three buildings were impacted, including a mess hall where numerous MBBS students were eating when the aircraft struck, reported PTI.

According to the Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA), five MBBS students, one PG resident doctor and the wife of a superspecialist doctor of the BJ Medical College in Ahmedabad were killed, while 60 medical students were injured when an Air India plane crashed into the college complex.

Bomb threat to Indian Airlines

In 2024, Indian airlines and airports received over 1,000 hoax bomb threats. The latest bomb threat was reported last week when a Patna-bound IndiGo flight from Ahmedabad received a hoax alert, PTI reported.

A bomb threat was received shortly before flight 6E921, with 192 passengers aboard, was set to land at the Jay Prakash Narayan International Airport at 12:45 pm.

“As a precaution, the flight was allowed a priority landing and it safely landed,” a Patna airport official told PTI.

"The aircraft was searched thoroughly for an hour and no suspicious items were found. After that the flight was declared safe,” Santosh Kumar, Station House Officer (SHO) of the Airport police station told PTI.