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An Air India flight bound for New York was forced to return to Mumbai mid-flight after a bomb threat was found in the aircraft toilets.
Flight AI119 was around four hours into its almost 16-hour journey from India to the US when the “potential security threat” was discovered on Monday (10 March).
A Sahar police official said that one of 322 passengers and crew on board the Boeing 777 aircraft spotted a note with the message “there is a bomb in the flight” in the bathroom, reported The New Indian Express.
According to data from Flightradar24, the flight departed Mumbai International Airport for New York’s JFK at around 2am local time before turning around in the airspace above Azerbaijan.
Security agencies found the threat to be a hoax following “mandatory checks” upon the flight’s safe landing in Mumbai at 10.25am.
The flight has been rescheduled to depart at 5am tomorrow (11 March), with the airline offering affected passengers overnight accommodation and meals on Monday.
A spokesperson for Air India said: “A potential security threat was detected mid-flight on AI119 operating Mumbai-New York (JFK) today, 10 March 2025. After following the necessary protocols, the flight air-returned to Mumbai, in the interest of the safety and security of all on board.”
It added: “Our colleagues on the ground are making sure to minimise the inconvenience caused to our passengers by this disruption. As always, Air India accords the highest priority to the safety of passengers and crew.”
It’s not the first time the Air India flight has been thrown off course by a bomb threat.
In October, flight AI119 was again diverted soon after takeoff and evacuated following a bomb threat.
The AI119 flight from Mumbai, carrying 239 passengers, made an emergency landing at the Delhi airport on 14 October.
The bomb threat was made via a post on X, Usha Rangnani, a senior police officer in charge of security at the Delhi airport, said at the time.
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