Bangkok: An Air India flight en route from Phuket, Thailand, to New Delhi was forced to make an emergency landing on Friday after receiving a bomb threat mid-flight, Thai airport authorities confirmed.
Flight AI 379, carrying 156 passengers, had departed from Phuket International Airport at 9:30 a.m. local time (0230 GMT), but turned back over the Andaman Sea shortly after takeoff. The aircraft returned safely to Phuket, where all passengers were promptly evacuated according to standard emergency protocols, said an official from Airports of Thailand (AOT).
Flight tracking service Flightradar24 showed the plane making a broad loop over the sea before heading back to the southern Thai island.
The incident occurred just a day after another Air India tragedy, in which a plane crashed shortly after takeoff in Ahmedabad, killing over 260 people.
While AOT confirmed the threat, no additional information about the nature or source of the bomb scare was disclosed. Air India has not yet issued a statement.
Indian aviation authorities have grappled with a surge in false bomb threats in recent months. Last year, nearly 1,000 hoax threats were recorded in just the first 10 months—ten times the number reported in 2023.
