An Air India flight from Thailand’s Phuket to New Delhi, India’s capital, received an on-board bomb threat on Friday and took an emergency landing on the island, airport officials stated.
All 156 passengers on flight AI 379 had been evacuated off the aircraft, in accordance with emergency procedures, an Airports of Thailand spokesman said.
The plane departed from Phuket airport for the Indian capital at 9.30am (9am PKT) on Friday, but flew a long circle over the Andaman Sea and returned to the southern Thai island, reported flight tracking website Flightradar24.
The incident comes after an Air India plane crashed in Ahmedabad on Thursday just after takeoff, killing over 240 individuals.
Airports of Thailand (AOT) did not release information regarding the bomb threat. Air India did not have an immediate response to a request for comment.
Indian airlines and airports received a wave of hoax bomb threats last year, with almost 1,000 hoax calls and messages in the first 10 months, almost 10 times that of 2023.
Earlier, a major aviation incident occurred at Ahmedabad airport on Thursday as an Air India flight bound for Birmingham crashed while attempting to take off. The incident has drawn immediate response from airport authorities and emergency services.
According to initial reports, the aircraft involved was a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner carrying 242 individuals, including 230 passengers and 12 crew members. Eyewitnesses reported seeing thick plumes of black smoke and flames rising from the site as rescue teams rushed to assist the injured.
Visuals from the scene of the Ahmedabad plane crash show passengers evacuated on stretchers and loaded into ambulances for medical treatment. Though the full extent of injuries or casualties remains unclear, local news channels have confirmed that more than 100 people were onboard at the time of the crash.
