NEW DELHI: Close on the heels of the tragedy involving the Air India flight from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick, the airline’s flight from Phuket to Delhi carrying over 150 passengers was forced to return to Phuket following a bomb threat which later turned out to be a hoax.
The bomb threat was spotted on a note found inside AI 379, an Airbus 320, just 20 minutes after it took off. The flight was going over the Andaman sea when the Captain took a wide U-turn and returned to Phuket, the website revealed.
An airline source confirmed the incident occurred on the flight after it took off from Phuket airport. “The flight had flown for some time from Phuket when a crew member chanced upon a bomb threat midair. The Captain was alerted and the flight returned to the originating airport itself,” the source said. “All the regulatory protocols were being followed at Phuket airport,” she added.
The passengers were evacuated from the aircraft after the emergency landing was completed and thorough checks carried out.
The flight started from Phuket again at 4.14 pm (local time) and reached Terminal 3 of Indira Gandhi International Airport at 7.30 pm, nearly 7 hours behind schedule.