Delhi-bound Air India flight from Phuket makes emergency landing after bomb threat onboard

Just a day after the deadly crash of an Air India flight in Ahmedabad, panic gripped another Air India aircraft, this time en route from Thailand. Flight AI 379, carrying 156 passengers from Phuket to New Delhi, was forced to make an emergency landing back in Phuket on Friday after authorities received a bomb threat onboard.

According to Thailand’s airport authority, all passengers aboard the Airbus were safely evacuated after landing, following standard emergency protocols. “All 156 passengers on flight AI 379 had been escorted from the plane, in line with emergency plans,” an official with Airports of Thailand (AOT) said.

The flight had taken off from Phuket at 9:30 a.m. local time (0230 GMT) and appeared to follow a wide loop over the Andaman Sea before returning to the island, as shown by data from Flightradar24.

Authorities have not released details about the nature of the bomb threat. Air India has yet to issue an official statement.

The incident comes less than 24 hours after the crash of Air India flight AI171 in Ahmedabad, which killed over 240 people. While there is no confirmed connection between the two incidents, the back-to-back emergencies have rattled confidence in air travel on the carrier’s international routes.

India has seen a surge in bomb threat hoaxes targeting airlines and airports in recent months. Last year alone, authorities received nearly 1,000 hoax calls and messages, almost ten times the volume recorded in 2022.

(With Reuters inputs)