News Mania / Piyal Chatterjee / 19th October 2024
According to Jaipur Airport Police SHO Sandeep Basera, around 12.45 am on Saturday, 189 passengers on board Air India Express aircraft IX-196, which was traveling from Dubai to Jaipur, received a bomb threat via email. According to a police officer the plane touched down at Jaipur International Airport at 1:20 am, and following a comprehensive inspection by security personnel, nothing unusual was discovered.
Authorities reportedly removed or blocked roughly ten social media accounts for making bomb threats on Saturday, continuing the trend of domestic airlines getting such threats for a sixth day.
The incident involving Air India Express occurs at the same time that a Vistara flight from Delhi to London was rerouted to Frankfurt on Friday due to a bomb threat. An airline representative stated in a statement released early on Saturday morning that the flight had safely arrived at the Frankfurt airport and that necessary inspections were underway. After the security agencies give their approval, the flight will proceed to its destination.
“Vistara flight UK17 operating from Delhi to London on October 18, 2024 received a security threat on social media. In line with the protocol, all relevant authorities were immediately informed and as a precautionary measure, the pilots decided to divert the flight to Frankfurt,” the spokesperson said.
Meanwhile, Akasa Air said its flight QP 1366 scheduled to fly from Bengaluru to Mumbai on Friday received a security alert shortly before departure. “Hence as per safety and security procedures, all passengers had to be deplaned as the local authorities followed necessary procedures. We request your understanding as our team on ground did everything possible to reduce inconvenience,” the airline said in a post on X.
Nearly 40 Indian carrier aircraft have received bomb threats in recent days, but they have since been shown to be hoaxes. The civil aviation ministry intends to implement stringent guidelines, such as adding those who commit hoaxed bomb threats to the no-fly list, to stop such occurrences from happening to airlines. Four Air India Express flights, two Vistara flights, and one IndiGo airline were among the flights threatened on Thursday. Air India stated that “a number of” their planes were also threatened with a fake bomb, although they did not say how many.
According to K Rammohan Naidu, minister of civil aviation, the ministry is considering changing rules to guarantee stringent enforcement. “Whatever we know now are that of individuals and minors…and pranksters,” he stated when asked if there was a conspiracy behind the bomb threats.
