Bomb threat: Kochi-Delhi IndiGo flight makes emergency landing in Nagpur
An IndiGo flight from Kochi to Delhi with 157 passengers and six crew on board made an emergency landing in Nagpur following an alleged bomb threat on Tuesday morning.
The Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL) received an email claiming that a bomb had been placed inside the flight which arrived in the Kerala city from Muscat and later departed to Delhi as a domestic flight.
Following the security scare, the plane was diverted to Nagpur, and it safely landed at Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport.
"The information was promptly communicated to relevant authorities following which the flight made an emergency landing at Nagpur airport and is currently undergoing inspection. After completing the security checks, the aircraft will proceed to Delhi," CIAL said.
Over the last few days, there has been a spike in the incidents of flights of Indian carriers making emergency landings either due to technical snags or security threats. These incidents come amid heightened aviation safety concerns following the Ahmedabad plane crash that killed all but one of the 242 passengers on board last week.
On Tuesday morning, Air India terminated its San Francisco-Mumbai flight at its scheduled stopover at Kolkata after one of its engines developed a technical snag. The Flight AI180 landed in Kolkata at the scheduled time of 12.45 am, even though it took off one hour late from San Francisco.
According to reports, a technical issue was detected during routine post-landing checks, and the airline decided to do a comprehensive check.
On Monday evening, an Air India Express flight from Delhi to Ranchi was diverted back to the national capital due to a suspected technical glitch.
"One of our flights returned to Delhi after takeoff due to a suspected technical issue. Post inspections and clearance, the aircraft continued scheduled operations. We regret the inconvenience," an Air India Express spokesperson said.
This came hours after a Delhi-bound Air India flight was diverted back to Hong Kong after the pilot suspected a technical issue.
In Thursday’s air mishap, the Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner from Ahmedabad to London crashed and went down into a doctors’ hostel in the Gujarat city, minutes after taking off from the Sardar Vallabhbhai International Airport.
At least 270 people lost their lives (including on-ground deaths) in the crash, one of the deadliest in the aviation history.
India