An Air India flight en route from Thailand to New Delhi was forced to make an emergency landing on Friday following a bomb threat. Flight AI 379, carrying 156 passengers, took off from Phuket International Airport at 9:30 AM local time (0230 GMT). However, after circling over the Andaman Sea, the aircraft returned to the Thai island in accordance with emergency protocols. An official from Airports of Thailand (AOT) stated that all 156 passengers aboard flight AI 379 were safely evacuated from the aircraft as per emergency plans. Flight tracking platform Flightradar24 showed the plane turning back mid-flight before landing safely.

AOT did not disclose specific details regarding the bomb threat. Air India has yet to release an official statement on the incident. This occurrence comes just a day after an Air India aircraft crashed shortly after takeoff in Ahmedabad, resulting in over 240 fatalities. The aviation sector in India has been witnessing a rise in bomb threats. According to official statistics, nearly 1,000 hoax calls and messages were recorded in the first ten months of last year, which is almost ten times the total for 2023.