Now bomb threat on Paris-Mumbai flight, third incident within a week | Mumbai News

MUMBAI: A Vistara flight from Paris with 306 people on board received a bomb threat, prompting the pilots to make an emergency landing at Mumbai airport on Sunday.

According to sources, Vistara reported a handwritten note on a vomit bag containing a bomb threat. A state of emergency was declared at 7:08 p.m. and flight UK024 landed safely at 10:19 a.m. The aircraft was taken to an isolated bay for security checks.

A Vistara spokesperson said, “We confirm that our staff encountered a security issue on board Vistara flight UK 024 from Paris to Mumbai on June 2, 2024. As per protocol, we have immediately informed the relevant authorities.” The official added, “The flight has landed at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai and we are fully cooperating with security authorities on all mandatory checks.”

This is the third incident of a bomb threat involving airlines in a week. The previous two incidents occurred on domestic flights. On Saturday, an IndiGo flight from Chennai to Mumbai received a bomb threat, following which the aircraft made an emergency landing in Mumbai.

The earlier incident occurred on May 28 on a flight from Delhi to Varanasi.

In the IndiGo incident, the flight had left Chennai at 6.50 am and was on its way to its destination when the bomb alert was received. “An unclaimed remote control was found on board the aircraft,” a source said. The pilots informed air traffic control in Mumbai and requested an emergency landing.

Last week, there was a bomb threat on the IndiGo flight from Delhi to Varanasi with 176 passengers on board. The passengers were evacuated through the emergency exits of Delhi airport. Video clips of the evacuation showed passengers and even flight crew being evacuated down the slides with their hand luggage in tow. As per safety norms, which state that an evacuation must be completed within 90 minutes, hand luggage must be left behind on the aircraft. Passengers are not allowed to carry any items with them and even shoes like stilettos must be removed to avoid damaging the inflatable slides.

Following the Delhi incident, IndiGo removed two pilots and cabin crew from their roster for not following evacuation SOPs.