A British Airways flight traveling from London to Hyderabad made a safe landing at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport on Tuesday after the airport authorities received a bomb threat via email. This alarming incident is the latest in a series of similar threats targeting flights arriving in Hyderabad this month.
Sequence of Events and Immediate Response
According to reports from news agency PTI, the airport's customer support service received an email threatening British Airways flight BA 277, which was en route from London's Heathrow Airport. Upon receiving the alert, standard safety protocols were immediately activated. The aircraft landed without incident, and all prescribed security measures were swiftly implemented.
"The flight landed safely, and a standard safety protocol was initiated. The flight has already departed for Heathrow," PTI reported. The standard protocols, as described by sources, involve isolating the aircraft on the tarmac, thoroughly screening all passengers and their baggage, deploying sniffer dog squads, and keeping fire tenders on high alert standby.
A Pattern of Threats at Hyderabad Airport
This event is not isolated. Just a night earlier, on Monday, a KLM flight from Amsterdam to Hyderabad also received a bomb threat email around midnight. That aircraft also landed safely at 1 pm, after which identical security protocols were executed to ensure everyone's safety.
Airport officials highlighted that similar threatening emails were received earlier this month targeting IndiGo flights. Specifically, flights operating on the Madina to Hyderabad and Sharjah to Hyderabad routes were threatened. As a precautionary measure, the Madina to Hyderabad flight was diverted to Ahmedabad airport for security checks.
Confirming the details, a statement from Hyderabad Airport GMR noted that both British Airways flight 277 and Kuwait Airways flight 373 were the subjects of the email threats.
Investigation and Heightened Security
Authorities have launched a full-scale investigation to trace the origin of these threat emails. Security vigilance at the Hyderabad airport has been significantly intensified in response to these repeated incidents. The focus remains on identifying the source and intent behind these hoaxes, which cause substantial operational disruption and passenger anxiety.
These events underscore the critical importance of robust airport security protocols and the need for constant vigilance in the aviation sector to handle such threats efficiently and ensure passenger safety remains paramount.
