Air India Flight Makes Emergency Landing In Thailand's Phuket After Bomb Threat; All Passengers Evacuated Safely

An Air India flight bound for New Delhi was forced to return and make an emergency landing in Phuket on Friday (14 June) following a bomb threat, news agency Reuters reported, citing Phuket's airport officials.

Flight AI 379, carrying 156 passengers, had departed from Phuket airport at 9.30 am local time, but shortly after takeoff, turned around over the Andaman Sea and returned to the Thai island.

Officials from Airports of Thailand (AOT) confirmed that the flight landed safely and that all passengers were evacuated without incident, following standard emergency procedures.

The Thai authorities have reportedly not found any bomb inside the flight after the preliminary search.

Thai airport officials were questioning the passenger who found the bomb threat note on the aircraft.

Indian carriers have faced such threats before. In the first ten months of last year alone, airlines and airports received nearly 1,000 hoax bomb threats—about ten times the count in 2022.

The incident comes at a time of heightened sensitivity around aviation safety.

Earlier on Thursday, an Air India plane crash shortly after takeoff in Ahmedabad claimed over 240 lives.