India's aviation authorities are holding a high-level meeting today, Wednesday, following a series of hoax bomb threats that have disrupted multiple flights over the past two days.
More than 10 bomb threats targeting Indian carriers were reported on Monday and Tuesday, according to the authorities. Many of these threats were posted on social media by unverified users, whose accounts have since been suspended.
"We are investigating all the calls and have informed the concerned police officers about the threats to identify the person behind them," said an Indian airport security officer.
The origin of these threats remains unclear. Some are believed to have originated from London, while others are said to be from other countries.
Every threat is being taken seriously for the sake of public safety, the authorities emphasized. So far, all the "warnings" have been found to be false, and no explosives were detected during thorough security checks on the planes.
Here are the latest bomb scare incidents on Indian flights:
An Air India Express plane en route to Singapore had to be escorted by two air force fighter jets on Tuesday night after receiving an e-mail warning about a bomb on board. A Lucknow-bound IndiGo flight from Dammam, Saudi Arabia, was redirected to Jaipur following a security alert on Tuesday. A Delhi-Chicago Air India flight was diverted to Canada on Tuesday due to a security threat posted online. All passengers and the aircraft were re-screened as part of safety protocols. An Air India flight from Mumbai to New York was diverted to Delhi on Monday due to security concerns. Two IndiGo flights were taken to an isolated bay on Monday due to a threat. Both were supposed to take off from Mumbai; one was headed to Muscat and the other to Jeddah.
The US authorities are also investigating the situation, which has raised concerns about the safety of commercial aviation.
"Any threats against commercial aviation are inappropriate and are dealt with extremely seriously by our law enforcement agencies," said Matthew Miller, spokesperson for the US Department of State, during a press briefing on Tuesday.
In a statement, Air India acknowledged that several threats had affected local airlines in recent days.
"Though all have been found to be hoaxes, as a responsible airline operator, all threats are taken seriously," the airline said on Tuesday.
Air India is now working with the authorities to identify those behind the threats and ensure they are held accountable for the disruption and inconvenience caused to passengers. Legal action will be considered against those responsible to recover damages incurred by the airline.
