IndiGo's Jabalpur-Hyderabad flight diverted due to bomb threat

An Indigo flight 6E 7308, operating from Jabalpur to Hyderabad was diverted to Nagpur on Sunday due to a bomb threat.

Upon landing in Nagpur, all passengers were disembarked and mandatory security checks were promptly initiated, according to an Indigo statement.

The airline apologised, saying, “Passengers were provided with assistance and refreshments, and we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience caused.”

Hoax bomb threats to airports and hospitals have increased in recent times. On June 18, 41 airports including those in Jaipur, Chennai and Varanasi received bomb threat over emails. This led to extensive anti-sabotage checks that lasted for hours, but all the threats were found to be hoaxes.

Hoax bomb threats and messages disrupt flight schedules and also require a thorough inspection of all passengers, their luggage and the entire aircraft. Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) had proposed a five-year flying ban for those found guilty of such acts.

Earlier on August 22, a full emergency was declared at Thiruvananthapuram airport following a bomb threat on an Air India flight arriving from Mumbai.

The flight landed at the airport around 8am and was directed to an isolation bay and passengers were safely evacuated by 8.44am.

The threat was communicated by the pilot around 7.30am as the aircraft neared Thiruvananthapuram airport. There were 135 passengers on board.

On June 17, authorities detained a 13-year-old boy for allegedly sending an email to Delhi Airport falsely claiming that a bomb had been planted on a Dubai-bound flight.

An emergency was declared by airport authorities upon receiving the email, and Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport was placed on high alert.

Earlier, around 60 hospitals across Mumbai had also received hoax emails about bombs kept in their premises. Mumbai police had said this included both private and public hospitals and all emails were sent using Virtual Private Networks (VPN) to the hospital's public mail-id's.