Air India bomb threat: 'Sonic boom' heard over Norfolk as RAF Typhoon jet races to escort Boeing plane receiving bomb threat

The Boeing 777 plane declared an emergency today (Thursday 17 October) on approach to London Heathrow due to a bomb threat. The latest update from the website Air Live states that the plane has landed safely at Heathrow Airport at around 1:30pm.

Flight Emergency on X, formerly Twitter, posted that the flight “had a bomb threat”. On X users reported hearing a “sonic boom” over Norfolk due to a “RAF jet”.

One user wrote: “Typhoon just took off from RAF Coningsby heading straight for it”. Another posted on X: “Just sonic boomed over Norfolk!”. A third person said: “Sonic boom over Norfolk from escorting RAF”.

It comes after several Indian flights have received hoax bomb threats over the past few days. On Tuesday (14 October), Singapore's Air Force sent two fighter jets to escort an Air India Express plane away from populated areas following a bomb threat.

Hours before that, an Air India plane from Delhi to Chicago had to land at a Canadian airport as a precautionary measure. IndiGo, SpiceJet and Akasa Air flights also received threats. On Monday (13 October), three international flights that took off from Mumbai were diverted or delayed after an X (formerly Twitter) handle posted threats.

Yesterday (Wednesday 16 October) Mumbai Police arrested a 17-year-old boy, his father, and a third individual from Rajnandgaon, Chhattisgarh, in connection with bomb threats that caused disruptions to three international flights on Monday. The individuals have been called for questioning, and further legal action will take place in Mumbai.