E-Paper
'Operation Badla' hoax tweet diverts Jet Airways flight to Muscat
The flight from Mumbai to Dubai made emergency land at the Muscat international airport after a tweet from an unknown account from Punjab warned of bomb threat.
A Dubai-bound Jet Airways flight from Mumbai made an emergency landing at Muscat airport on Thursday following a tweet about presence of a bomb onboard, but was cleared for onward travel after it turned out to be hoax.
Flight No 9W 536 landed under emergency conditions in the Omani capital safely at 2.50 pm IST and was taken to the isolation bay where 61 passengers and crew were made to disembark.
Omani security agencies scanned the aircraft, passengers and baggage and, after a thorough search, the plane was cleared for take-off, a Jet Airways official said.
The bomb threat was detected by the airline's social media team from a tweet put out by a person in Punjab, according to sources.
'Bomb spotted in #Jet Airways 9W-536 from Mumbai to Dubai. at 12.25 from CSIA ..#Operation Badla' said the post from the Twitter handle @PartapSurinder.
Air traffic controllers then alerted the pilot following standard operating procedure and the plane was diverted to Muscat.
"There was a bomb threat on the flight. It was a serious threat prompting the pilot to land at the closest airport," Jet Airways spokesperson Manish Kalghatgi said
"All guests and crew disembarked without any incident and were taken to the airport terminal," he added.
Omani security agencies carried out a search of the aircraft, baggage and cargo but did not find any explosives.
Mumbai police said they are now trying to trace the location from where the threat tweet was uploaded.
"Our cyber cell is making an inquiry into the matter. As of now no case has been registered,"Mumbai police spokesperson Dhananjay Kukarni (DCP) said.
This is the second such incident in three days with a Turkish Airlines Jet from Bangkok to Istanbul making an emergency landing at Delhi aiport on Tuesday following a bomb threat. No explosives were found on board and the plane took off after nine hours.
