In last 48 hours, over 10 Indian airlines have received hoax calls threatening the officials of bomb scare on flights that has turned out to be a serious problem for the aviation ministry and big airline players. High level meetings are taking place to find a break through to this menace. The Aviation ministry has issued a probe to find the who are behind the conspiracy. The possibility of ‘Dark Web links’ is not being ruled out at this level and the security agencies are probing into the possibility of Pakistan and Pakistan led terror outfits behind the threats. However, aviation experts said, “It will take time to reach to a conclusion as it involves the safety and security of passengers and it cannot be compromised.”
Air India, in the statement, The Air India said that the carrier as well as other local airlines have been subject to a number of threats in recent days. “Though all have subsequently been found to be hoaxes, as a responsible airline operator all threats are taken seriously. The inconvenience to customers is sincerely regretted,” it said.
Further, the airline said it is extending all cooperation to authorities in identifying the perpetrators of such threats to ensure that they are held accountable for the disruption and inconvenience caused to passengers. It said that legal actions action against those responsible to recover damages incurred by the airline.
The problem is serious and raises concern as its costs the lives of passengers and crew members and not easy to ascertain whether it is fake or real. A day after a flight was diverted to the airport owing to a hoax call threatening bomb inside the plane, On Wednesday, a Canadian Air Force aircraft having 191 passengers on board an Air India flight from Iqaluit airport to Chicago was stranded.
On Tuesday, an Air India plane carrying 211 people from Delhi to Chicago was diverted to an airport in Canada. A day before, an Air India flight AI119 from Mumbai to New York’s JFK Airport, and IndiGo flight 6E1275 bound for Muscat, and flight 6E56 heading to Jeddah received bomb threats.
In last 48 hours, over 10 Indian flights have received hoax bomb threats. The Parliamentary Standing Committee and the Ministry of Civil Aviation had meeting and discussed the issue. Apart from the Air India Delhi-Chicago flight, the Dammam-Lucknow IndiGo flight, Ayodhya-Bengaluru Air India Express, a SpiceJet flight from Darbhanga to Mumbai (SG116), an Akasa Air flight from Bagdogra to Bengaluru (QP 1373) an Alliance Air Amritsar-Dehradun-Delhi flight (9I 650) and an Air India Express flight (IX 684) from Madurai to Singapore also received bomb threats on Tuesday.
