Over 20 flights of various Indian airlines receive bomb threats

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More than 20 flights of various Indian airlines have received bomb threats since Saturday morning, sources told news agency PTI.

Flights of Air India, IndiGo, Akasa Air, Vistara, SpiceJet, Star Air and Alliance Air have received the threats, the sources told PTI.

Among them are IndiGo's flights from Delhi and Mumbai to Istanbul, and Jodhpur to Delhi as well as Vistara's flight from Udaipur to Mumbai.

IndiGo, in two separate statements, said it is cognisant of a situation involving flight 6E 17 from Mumbai to Istanbul, and flight 6E 11 from Delhi to Istanbul, reported PTI.

The airline is working closely with the relevant authorities and taking all necessary precautions as per the guidelines, reported PTI.

"Flight 6E 184, operating from Jodhpur to Delhi received a security-related alert. The aircraft has landed in Delhi and customers have disembarked the aircraft, we are coordinating with the security agencies as per procedure," the airline said in another statement, reported PTI.

Vistara said that shortly before landing, flight UK 624 en route to Mumbai from Udaipur had a security concern and upon landing at the Mumbai airport, the plane was taken to the isolation bay for mandatory checks, reported PTI.

The sources told PTI more than 20 flights have received bomb threats since Saturday morning.

On Friday, three international flights of Vistara received bomb threats which turned out to be hoaxes and one of the flights was diverted to Frankfurt as a precautionary measure.

In the past few days, more than 40 flights operated by the Indian airlines have received bomb threats which later turned out to be hoaxes.

Flights receive hoax bomb threat, govt mulls strict action

The pattern of domestic airlines receiving bomb threats continued for a fourth day with multiple flights being targeted Thursday, as authorities suspended or blocked about 10 social media handles for posting threats.

Among the flights that received threats on Thursday four were of Air India Express, two of Vistara and one Indigo. Air India said "a number of" their flights also received hoax bomb threat, but they did not specify the number.

"A number of Air India flights received a security threat on social media today. These have been duly reported to the regulatory bodies and all laid down procedures were strictly followed as per guidance of the regulatory bodies. All flights have made a safe landing. Air India is committed to and accords top priority to the safety and security of its passengers and crew," an Air India official told PTI.

(With inputs from PTI)