In the last three-four days, 20 planes have received bomb threats and due to the threats, many planes have had to land at different places. This trend continued on Thursday also. After receiving a threat to bomb an Air India plane going from Mumbai to London, Britain sent its fighter plane into the sky.
The Royal Air Force on Thursday dispatched a Typhoon fighter plane to intercept an Air India plane that received a bomb threat. However, the plane later landed safely in London. According to the airline official, this threat was received by the Air India plane going from Mumbai to London. A Royal Air Force spokesperson said, “We can confirm that a Royal Air Force QRA (Quick Reaction Alert) Typhoon fighter aircraft was launched this afternoon to investigate a civilian aircraft.”
The spokesperson further said that after the interception without any incident, the aircraft was allowed to proceed towards its original destination. The spokesperson also said that now the matter is completely under the control of the civil authorities. An airline official said the flight landed safely at London's Heathrow Airport.
Earlier, a loud noise was heard in the East Anglia region of England, which was produced due to operational reasons of jet planes flying at supersonic speed. “Police can confirm that the loud noise heard by residents in the county this afternoon (17 October) was a sonic boom caused by Royal Air Force aircraft and was not an explosion,” Norfolk Police said in a statement.
The Civil Aviation Ministry is planning to impose strict rules to prevent incidents of bomb threats on planes and include the culprits in the 'no fly' list. A senior official gave this information on Thursday. Civil Aviation Minister K. Rammohan Naidu on Thursday said the ministry is considering amending civil aviation rules to ensure strict action against incidents involving bomb threats to airlines. At least 25 flights of various Indian airlines have received bomb threats in four days, including international flights, and some of them were diverted. Most of the threats have proved wrong.
