BANGKOK: Passengers and crew of an Air India jetliner were evacuated using emergency slides at Bangkok’s international airport, and authorities searched the plane for explosives after an apparent bomb hoax Wednesday, officials said.
The scare was prompted by an anonymous call received by the national carrier’s office in India, warning of an explosive aboard flight 332 en route from New Delhi to Bangkok, said Air India’s Thailand manager Indranil Banerjee.
As soon as the Boeing 787 Dreamliner landed at Suvarnabhumi International Airport, the pilots were told to park the aircraft in an isolated spot. All 231 passengers and 10 crew members were immediately evacuated using the aircraft’s inflatable slides, Banerjee said.
Security personnel searched the plane but nothing was found, Banerjee said.
The flight was a little more than one hour away from its destination when “two bomb threat calls were received” by the airline. The pilots were informed and asked the Bangkok Air Traffic Control for priority landing, a statement by Air India said.
The aircraft, which was scheduled to fly to Mumbai on Wednesday night, will now depart on Thursday.
Bomb scare: Air India plane evacuated at Bangkok airport
