Over 50 hospitals in Mumbai receive bomb threats via email

The Mumbai hospitals received bomb threats the same day 41 airports, including in Chennai, Patna and Jaipur, received similar threats which turned out be hoax.

More than 50 hospitals across Mumbai, including Jaslok Hospital, Raheja Hospital, Seven Hills Hospital, Kohinoor Hospital, KEM Hospital, JJ Hospital, and St. George Hospital, have received bomb threats via email. The Mumbai Police confirmed that the threatening emails were sent using a VPN network.

The Mumbai Police confirmed that the threatening emails were sent using a VPN network.(ANI)

The identity of the sender and the motive of the threat are yet to be ascertained, police said.

An hoax email threatening to blow up Mumbai's Hinduja College of Commerce was also received by the institute, reported ANI.

"Local police and bomb squad reached the spot and started an investigation but nothing suspicious was found. Mumbai's VP Road police station is investigating this matter," ANI quoted the police as saying.

The bomb threats were received the same day 41 airports, including in Chennai, Patna and Jaipur, received similar threats, prompting authorities to scramble contingency measures and carry out anti-sabotage checks that lasted hours, and each of them was found to be a hoax.

The emails received by the airports carried almost the identical message: "Hello, there are explosives hidden in the Airport. The bombs will soon explode. You will all die."

Authorities at the Nagpur and Patna airports conducted thorough searches on their premises after receiving the threat but found nothing.

Patna airport director Anchal Prakash said, "A bomb threat through email was received at the Jayaprakash Narayan International Airport, besides 41 other airports. The Bomb Threat Assessment Committee (BTAC) Meeting was convened… and it found the threat to be non-specific."

At the Chennai airport, a Dubai-bound flight with 286 passengers was delayed as a result of the hoax threat.