Air India Flight Makes Emergency Landing in Phuket After Bomb Threat Note Found Onboard

An Air India flight from Phuket, Thailand to New Delhi was forced to make an emergency landing on Friday after a bomb threat was reported onboard, according to Reuters, citing officials from Phuket International Airport.

The flight, AI 379, had just taken off around 9:30 AM local time when the threat was discovered during the cruising phase. The pilot immediately turned the aircraft around and safely landed back in Phuket. All 156 passengers were safely evacuated in accordance with emergency protocols, and the aircraft is currently undergoing security checks.

Authorities say a passenger found a bomb threat note onboard, prompting the alarm. That passenger is now being questioned by Thai airport officials. A preliminary search of the aircraft did not uncover any explosives.

Flight tracking data from Flightradar24 shows the plane made a broad loop over the Andaman Sea before returning to Phuket.

This incident comes just a day after a tragic Air India crash in Ahmedabad on Thursday, which killed more than 240 people shortly after takeoff.

Officials from Airports of Thailand (AOT) did not release further details about the bomb threat, and Air India has not yet responded to requests for comment. Indian airlines have seen a surge in bomb threats recently—nearly 1,000 hoax calls and messages were reported in the first 10 months of last year, almost 10 times the number from 2023.