[ad_1]
India’s airways and airports obtained 999 hoax bomb threats this 12 months as of 14 November, the nation’s deputy civil aviation minister advised its parliament.
This was almost 10 instances greater than the threats obtained in 2023, Mr Murlidhar Mohol mentioned.
More than 500 of the 12 months’s threats have been obtained simply within the final two weeks of October.
The dramatic surge in hoax threats had wreaked havoc on flight schedules, inflicting widespread disruption in companies.
The latest threats have been all hoaxes, Mr Mohol mentioned, with “no actual threat detected at any of the airports/aircraft in India”.
Police have registered 256 complaints and 12 folks have been arrested in reference to these threats, the minister mentioned.
But the instances mark an unprecedented spike in such hoaxes.
Between 2014 and 2017, authorities had recorded simply 120 bomb hoax alerts at airports, with almost half directed at Delhi and Mumbai, the nation’s largest airports.
The flurry of hoax threats this October had delayed a number of affected flights whereas others have been diverted.
Hoax threats in opposition to flights heading for different international locations additionally result in worldwide businesses getting concerned.
In October, Singapore’s Air Force despatched two fighter jets to escort an Air India Express aircraft following a bomb menace.
The similar month, one other Air India flight from New Delhi to Chicago was pressured to land in a distant airport in Canada.
Passengers on the flight have been later airlifted to Chicago on an Air Force aircraft deployed by Canadian officers.
India’s civil aviation ministry had then mentioned it was making “every possible effort” to safeguard flight operations.
India’s airports have a Bomb Threat Assessment Committee which assesses the gravity of the menace and takes motion accordingly. A menace can result in the involvement of the bomb disposal squad, sniffer canines, ambulances, police and docs.
Passengers are off-loaded from the aircraft together with cabin baggage, check-in baggage and cargo, and they’re all screened once more. Engineering and safety groups additionally search the aircraft earlier than it’s cleared for flying once more.
The resultant delay can price hundreds of {dollars} in damages to airways and safety businesses.
More than 150 million passengers flew domestically in India final 12 months, in response to the civil aviation ministry.
More than 3,000 flights arrive and depart day-after-day within the nation from greater than 150 operational airports, together with 33 worldwide airports.
Follow BBC News India on Instagram, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.
[ad_2]
Source link
