Air India flight from Phuket makes emergency landing after bomb threat
An Air India passenger plane takes off from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad January 30, 2013. REUTERS/Amit Dave/Files
An Air India flight from Phuket to New Delhi was forced to make an emergency landing on Friday after receiving a bomb threat, according to airport authorities.
The aircraft, AI 379, had taken off from Phuket at 9:30 a.m. local time (0230 GMT) but made a wide loop over the Andaman Sea and returned to the southern Thai island.
🚨 HUGE! Air India flight AI379, en route from Phuket, Thailand to Delhi, made an EMERGENCY landing after a BOMB THREAT was reported onboard.
— The aircraft landed SAFELY, all passengers and crew are SAFE, and NO injuries have been reported. pic.twitter.com/5rlqRIqxMbUpon landing, all 156 passengers were promptly escorted from the plane as part of emergency protocols. Airports of Thailand (AOT) officials confirmed that no injuries were reported, and the passengers were safely evacuated.
This incident follows a fatal crash involving another Air India flight in Ahmedabad on Thursday, which resulted in over 240 deaths.
AOT has not disclosed further details on the bomb threat, and Air India has yet to respond to inquiries about the matter.
Bomb threats targeting Indian airlines and airports have been a significant issue in recent years. In 2023 alone, nearly 1,000 hoax bomb threats were made to Indian airlines, marking a sharp increase in such incidents.
Yesterday, A London-bound passenger jet crashed in a residential area in the Indian city of Ahmedabad, killing at least 265 people on board and the ground — but one passenger is believed to have survived.
An AFP journalist witnessed bodies being recovered from the crash site, where the back of a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, carrying 242 passengers and crew, was seen hanging over the edge of a building it struck around lunchtime.
Read more: 265 perish in India's worst air disaster
He also saw a building engulfed in flames after the crash, with thick black smoke rising into the air, and a section of the plane scattered on the ground.
"One half of the plane crashed into the residential building where doctors lived with their families," said Krishna, a doctor who did not give his full name.
"The nose and front wheel landed on the canteen building where students were having lunch," he said.
The government opened a formal investigation into the cause of the crash, and rescue teams worked into Friday morning, scouring the charred wreckage with sniffer dogs.