The flight was scheduled to land at the Dabolim airport in South Goa at 4.15 am, a senior police official said.
AGoa-bound chartered flight from Moscow with 240 passengers onboard was reportedly diverted to Uzbekistan early on Saturday morning, following a bomb threat, according to police officials.
According to PTI, the flight was scheduled to land at the Dabolim airport in South Goa at 4.15 am, a senior police official said. The flight – AZV2463 operated by Azur Air – had to be diverted before it entered the Indian air space, the official told PTI.
“The flight (AZV2463) was diverted to Uzbekistan after an email was received at 12.30 am by the office of the Dabolim airport director, which said that a bomb was planted on the plane. The flight was diverted before it entered the Indian airspace. It landed at an airport in Uzbekistan around 4.30 am,” the official said.
According to ANI, the Azur Air chartered flight was flying from Russia’s Perm International Airport to Goa. A total of 238 passengers, including 2 infants, and 7 crew were onboard.
Airport Security Beefed Up
Deputy Superintendent of Police (Vasco) Salim Shaikh told PTI, after the threat mail, the Dabolim airport was put on alert and the personnel of Goa Police, Quick Response Team (QRT), Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) and dog squad were deployed at the facility as a precautionary measure adding that additional police force was also mobilised at the airport.
This is the second such incident on the Moscow-Goa route involving the same airline in less than two weeks.
Read More: Kolkata metro to run 234 services on Netaji’s birthday – Check timings and other details here
Similar ‘Bomb Threat’ in Gujarat
Two weeks ago, a Moscow-to-Goa flight made an emergency landing at Gujarat’s Jamnagar airport following a ‘bomb threat’.
The National Security Guard (NSG) later said it had found nothing suspicious on the Moscow-Goa flight after an alleged bomb threat. All 236 passengers and crew members were safe, according to the Jamnagar airport authorities.
The Azur Air international flight eventually landed in Goa hours later. The flight carrying all the passengers and crew members took off from the Jamnagar airport around 1.20 pm on Tuesday, more than 15 hours after it made the emergency landing there. It landed at the Dabolim Airport in Goa at 2.39 pm, a senior official from the airport told PTI.
(With PTI Inputs)
