A flight operated by India's Vistara Airlines was forced to make an emergency landing in Erzurum, a city in eastern Turkey, on Friday due to a bomb threat that turned out to be false, Reuters reported, citing the local governor.
Turkish officials reported that a note stating "bomb on board" was discovered in a lavatory on the aircraft. This led to bomb disposal teams conducting a search of the plane and the evacuation of its 234 passengers and 13 crew members.
A Vistara spokesperson had said flight UK27 from Mumbai to Frankfurt diverted due to “a security concern.” The flight landed at Erzurum at 4.30pm local time (1330 GMT), Reuters reported.
“As of 23:30, we have completed all search and examination operations. As a result of the work we carried out, we found that the bomb threat was unfounded,” Erzurum governor Mustafa Ciftci told reporters at the airport.
The substitute aircraft is expected to arrive at the Turkish airport by 12.25 (local time) and depart for Frankfurt with all passengers by 14.30 hours (Local time), Vistara said in an updated statement of X.
Ciftci also said a precautionary halt to landings and take-offs at the airport was lifted after inspections were completed.
“All flights coming or leaving from our province will now be able to fly comfortably,” he said.
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Vistara said in a post on X that customers, crew and the aircraft were cleared by security agencies and that all necessary checks were conducted.
The airline also said it sent an alternate aircraft to Turkey by 12:25 local time on Saturday to take the passengers to Frankfurt.
(With inputs from Reuters)
