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Hoax bomb threats continue, 24 more Indian airlines receive messages on Sunday

Reportedly, flights of IndiGo, Vistara, Air India, Air India Express and Akasa Air received the threats

Representation | Reuters

A day after the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) held a meeting with the representatives of airlines, as many as 24 flights of Indian airlines received bomb threats on Sunday. 

Reportedly, flights of IndiGo, Vistara, Air India, Air India Express and Akasa Air received the threats. 

BCAS conducted a meeting with the airline CEOs on Saturday. Security aspects and standard operating procedures for dealing the bomb threats were discussed. 

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The airline is cognisant of a situation involving flights 6E 58 (Jeddah to Mumbai), 6E87 (Kozhikode to Dammam), 6E11 (Delhi to Istanbul), 6E17 (Mumbai to Istanbul), 6E133 (Pune to Jodhpur) and 6E112 operating (Goa to Ahmedabad), an IndiGo spokesperson said in a statement. 

Passengers of these flights disembarked safely.

Meanwhile, Vistara said it got security threats for six flights including UK116 (Singapore to Delhi), UK110 (Singapore to Pune) and UK25 (Delhi to Frankfurt). 

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An Air India Express flight IX481 from Kochi to Dammam received the bomb threat and the flight landed safely at Dammam. 

Emergency landing protocols were activated in the wake of the bomb threats. Several passengers went through hardships due to the delay. 

More than 90 flights have received bomb threats so far this week. On Saturday alone, 30 bomb threats were made against flights operated by different airlines in India. 

As the investigation into the hoax bomb threats is underway, officials have said that the initial probe has traced the IP addresses, from which some of the threats were issued, to places including London, Germany and Canada. 

On Wednesday, a 17-year-old boy was taken into custody by Mumbai police for issuing threats to four flights on Monday. 

The boy had done it to frame one of his friends over money issues, said the officials. 

Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu had said on Thursday that initial investigations do not point to a conspiracy and that most of the calls had been "made by minors and pranksters". Naidu also added that steps will be taken to ensure the safety of the passengers.