Istanbul: An Indian passenger aircraft made an emergency landing in Turkey after a bomb threat was reported during the flight. The aircraft, along with its crew and hundreds of passengers, was safely evacuated.
According to a Reuters report, Turkey’s Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya stated on social media that the flight of the Indian airline Vistara had to make an emergency landing at 4:30 PM local time in the eastern Turkish city of Erzurum. This action was taken after a note reading “bomb on board” was found on the plane.
He mentioned that a bomb disposal squad with two experts and a search dog inspected the aircraft, which had 234 passengers and 13 crew members onboard, and they were safely evacuated.
A spokesperson for the Indian airline stated that Vistara flight UK 27 was en route from Mumbai to Frankfurt but was diverted to Erzurum due to security concerns, which were flagged by a crew member.
The spokesperson added that, as per protocol, the relevant authorities were alerted and the airline is fully cooperating with security agencies for the necessary security assessment.
Turkey’s Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, Orhan Oran, stated on X (formerly Twitter) that flight operations at Erzurum Airport were halted until 9 PM local time due to the emergency situation.