Air India emergency landing: Flight from Phuket, Thailand to India's capital New Delhi emergency lands after bomb threat mid-air
An Air India flight from Phuket in Thailand to India's capital New Delhi was forced to emergency land after it received a bomb threat.
All 156 passengers on flight AI 379 had been escorted from the plane after it made an emergency landing in Thailand, Airports of Thailand official said. The aircraft took off from Phuket airport bound for the Indian capital at 9.30 a.m. (0230 GMT) on Friday, but made a wide loop around the Andaman Sea and landed back on the southern Thai island, according to flight tracker Flightradar24.
Airport authorities said the flight received a bomb threat. Airports of Thailand has not provided details on the bomb threat.
Indian airlines and airports were inundated with hoax bomb threats last year, with nearly 1,000 hoax calls and messages received in the first 10 months, nearly 10 times that of 2023. The incident follows the crash of an Air India flight in Ahmedabad on Thursday shortly after takeoff, in which 241 people were killed.
One British man survived the crash, and his relatives said he had “no idea” how he escaped the aircraft. In a statement Air India said: “The 12-year-old Boeing 787-8 aircraft departed from Ahmedabad at 1338 hrs, carrying 230 passengers and 12 crew.
“The aircraft crashed shortly after take-off. We regret to inform that, of the 242 aboard, there are 241 confirmed fatalities. The sole survivor is being treated in a hospital. 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. Air India offers its deepest condolences to the families of the deceased.”