Ganesh Kendale
Amid the chaos caused by hoaxes, the 220-odd passengers stranded in the remote town of Iqaluit in Canada after Air India’s Delhi-Chicago flight was diverted there Tuesday following a bomb threat reached their destination Wednesday onboard a Royal Canadian Air Force Airbus A330, albeit without their checked-in baggage. Due to flight-duty time limitations, the crew operating AI 127 from Delhi to Chicago could not immediately fly out of the remote sub-Arctic town.
In a statement, AI said, “We thank the Canadian authorities and Iqaluit airport for their support and assistance extended to passengers and Air India during this unexpected disruption.”
Among other flights hit on Wednesday, Akasa’s Delhi-Bengaluru flight (QP-1335) returned to IGI Airport soon after take-off.SpiceJet received threats, too, but none of its flights was affected beyond the mandatory isolation and safety-check regimen.
The home and aviation ministries said they were working to tackle the menace by identifying and prosecuting the culprits behind the disruptions that have affected thousands of passengers during the festive travel season and caused financial losses to airlines.
Union aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu said he was “deeply concerned” about the trend.
“I am monitoring the situation regularly, and our law enforcement agencies are pursuing all the cases actively. Mumbai Police has arrested a minor responsible for issuing bomb threats targeting three flights. All others responsible for the disruptions will be identified and duly prosecuted,” he wrote on X.
Four FIRs have been filed in Mumbai since Monday, one at the Airport police station and three at Sahar.
“Hi. Planted explosives onboard FLIGHT IGO651. The plane departed from Mumbai and is going towards Delhi…I hate you all,” the latest FIR filed at Sahar police station quotes one of the bomb threats received by IndiGo as saying.
The threat was posted on X (formerly Twitter), just like two previous ones, traced to a now-detained 17-year-old Class XI student from Chhattisgarh.
The teenager allegedly created a Twitter account in the name of Fazluddin Nirban, a 34-year-old shop owner, and used it to send three threatening tweets to IndiGo and Air India between 1.09am and 3.19am Monday. The suspect said a “financial dispute” with the shop owner prompted him to concoct the hoax.
