Air India Flight Makes Emergency Landing After Bomb Threat, One Day After Deadly Crash Kills 242

An Air India flight from Thailand to India was forced to make an emergency landing after receiving a bomb threat just one day after a London-bound flight crashed and claimed 242 lives

An Air India flight from Phuket, Thailand to New Delhi was forced to make an emergency landing on Friday following a bomb threat, just one day after a separate Air India flight bound for London crashed, killing 242 people.

Flight AI 379, carrying 156 passengers, had departed Phuket at 9:30 a.m. local time and was en route to New Delhi when the threat was received midair. The aircraft circled over the Andaman Sea before returning to Phuket International Airport. Passengers were safely escorted off the plane, according to Thai airport officials. Authorities have not disclosed the specific nature of the threat.

This latest security scare comes less than 24 hours after one of India’s worst aviation disasters in recent history. A London-bound Air India flight from Ahmedabad crashed shortly after takeoff, killing 242 people. The aircraft involved was a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, marking the first fatal crash involving this model since it began service in 2009.

According to Air India, the crash victims included 169 Indian nationals, 53 British citizens, one Canadian, and seven Portuguese passengers. Rescuers continue to search the wreckage near the crash site in Ahmedabad, where authorities have declared a major emergency.

Amid the devastation, two survivors have been identified. One of them, 40-year-old Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, a British national of Indian origin, has been seen in footage emerging from the wreckage. He is currently recovering in a hospital after sustaining burn injuries to his hand. The second survivor was located during the rescue operation.

The emergency landing in Phuket highlights a troubling pattern in Indian aviation. According to official figures, Indian airports and carriers received nearly 1,000 hoax bomb threats during the first ten months of last year, a nearly tenfold rise from 2023.

Security experts have called for heightened vigilance and improved screening procedures in the wake of both the fatal crash and the surge in threats.