Air India Express, Vistara flights get bomb threats, 16 incidents in one week

A Vistara flight from Delhi to London was diverted to Frankfurt due to a bomb threat. An Air India Express flight from Dubai conducted searches after landing in Delhi.

In Short

• Security checks found no danger in both the flights
• Delhi to London Vistara was diverted to Frankfurt
• Civil Aviation Ministry plans stricter action in hoax threat cases

Two more flights operated by Indian carriers received bomb threats during the intervening nights of Friday and Saturday, marking the latest incidents in a series of hoax threats. At least 16 flights have now received similar threats in just one week.

A Vistara flight from Delhi to London was diverted to Frankfurt on Saturday morning following a bomb threat, officials said. After thorough security checks revealed no danger, the flight resumed its journey to London.

An Air India Express from Dubai to Jaipur, with 189 passengers onboard, received a bomb threat via email, according to officials. The aircraft landed at 1.20 am and nothing suspicious was found after the checks.

The Delhi-London Vistara flight landed safely at Frankfurt Airport at around 12.40 am (Indian time), and mandatory checks were conducted. It departed from Frankfurt for London after about two hours, the airline said on Saturday.

"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 airline spokesperson said.

On Friday, an Akasa Air flight scheduled to depart from Bengaluru to Mumbai received a security alert shortly before takeoff. All passengers were deplaned for safety checks, which later revealed the threat to be a hoax. On Thursday alone, five flights received bomb threats, all of which turned out to be false alarms.

The investigating agencies have found some common lines and words used in these fake threats like "bombs", "blood will spread everywhere", "explosive devices", "this is not a joke" and "you will all die" and "bomb rakhwa dia hai" (Hindi for bomb has been placed) among others.

A 17-year-old boy from Chhattisgarh was detained by Mumbai Police in connection with threats to three flights originating from Mumbai on October 14. Some of the IP addresses of the devices from which the threat was posted were traced to foreign locations, including London. Various police teams have contacted Virtual Private Network (VPN) service providers and social media platforms for information regarding the threat messages. VPNs hide IP addresses, making it difficult to track physical locations.

The Civil Aviation Ministry plans to implement stricter regulations to prevent hoax bomb threats, including placing perpetrators on the no-fly list.