An IndiGo Airlines domestic flight from Chennai to Mumbai landed safely after an anonymous telephone call to the carrier’s call center said that there was a bomb onboard the flight.
The threat, which was received by the airline on June 18, 2024, reportedly referred in specific terms to flight 6E 5148 flying from Chennai International Airport (MAA) to Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (BOM) being operated by one of IndiGo’s Airbus A320neos registered VT-IBW.
The flight had taken off from Chennai at 20:56 and landed at Mumbai at 22:24, 19 minutes behind schedule.
“IndiGo flight 6E 5149, operating from Chennai to Mumbai, had received a bomb threat,” said an official statement issued by the airline said. “Upon landing in Mumbai, the crew followed protocol, and the aircraft was taken to an isolation bay.”
“All passengers have safely disembarked the aircraft. We are working with security agencies. After completing all security checks, the aircraft will be positioned back in the terminal area,” the statement added, as reported by newswire PTI.
Earlier the same day, several other airports across India, including Chennai, Varanasi, Jaipur, and Patna, all received similar bomb threats. Each was later found to be a hoax once authorities had enacted their respective contingency measures and had each performed extensive anti-terrorism checks.
According to local reports, security was increased at all airports nationally while authorities searched airport terminals for explosive devices. It is understood that the threat to the airports was made by email at around 12:40 local time, all originating from the same email address – exhumedyou888@gmail.com, PTI reported.
The emails received by the airports carried almost the identical message: “Hello, there are explosives hidden in the Airport. The bombs will soon explode. You will all die.”
An online group calling itself KNR is suspected by the Indian authorities to have been behind the hoax email threats sent to the airports and the one received by IndiGo at its call center in Delhi. The same group also reportedly issued similar emails to several schools and hospitals in the greater Delhi area threatening explosive devices.
Meanwhile, on June 17, 2024, the previous day, a flight due to depart from Delhi Indira Gandhi Airport (DEL) for Dubai was the subject of another bomb threat made by email. However, nothing suspicious was found when the aircraft was searched, confirmed the authorities.