SINGAPORE: Two Indian planes received email threats warning about a possible bomb on board — one in Singapore and the other in Canada — on Tuesday, following a false alert on Monday that diverted Air India flight from Mumbai to New York mid-air.

Singapore scrambled fighter jets to escort Air India Express plane after an email warning about a possible bomb on board, the city-state’s defence minister said.

“Air India Express received an email that there was a bomb on board flight AXB684 that was bound for Singapore,” Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen said in a Facebook post.

He said two air force F-15 jets were deployed to escort the jet “away from populated areas” before it landed safely at Changi Airport in the late evening.

“Our Ground Based Air Defence systems and Explosive Ordnance Disposal team were also activated. Once on the ground, the plane was handed to the airport police,” Ng added..

The next in a string of hoax bomb threats made to Indian airlines forced an Air India plane to make an emergency landing in Canada, the airline said. The passenger aircraft, flying from India’s capital New Delhi to Chicago, was the subject of “a security threat posted online” and as a “precautionary measure” has landed at Iqaluit Airport in Canada, Air India said.

The aircraft and passengers were being “re-screened as per the laid down security protocol,” the company said. “Air India notes that it, and other local airlines, have been subject to a number of threats in recent days”, it added.

Published in Dawn, October 16th, 2024