A New York-bound Air India flight, carrying 303 passengers, returned to Mumbai on Monday morning after being airborne for nearly nine hours following a bomb threat, according to officials.
Nothing suspicious was found after the aircraft was thoroughly checked by security agencies
and it was rescheduled to operate at 5 am on Tuesday, they informed.
A passenger spotted a note with the message 'There is a bomb in the flight' written on it inside one of the lavatories and alerted the crew, a Sahar police official in Mumbai said and added that the aircraft made an emergency landing.
The Boeing 777-300 ER aircraft landed safely at the Mumbai airport at 10.25 am.
Late in the evening, police registered a first information report (FIR) against an unidentified person in connection with the incident, a second official said.
According to the official, the aircraft was flying over Azerbaijan in central Asia at around 6 am when the threat message was discovered.
When attempts to make an emergency landing at the Azerbaijan airport were unsuccessful, the aircraft captain contacted Mumbai airport authorities to arrange the return, said the police officer.
The flight followed standard security protocols before safely landing at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, he said.
There were 322 persons, including 19 crew members, in the Boeing 777-300 ER aircraft, a source said.
In a statement in the morning, Air India said, 'A potential security threat was detected mid-flight on AI119 operating Mumbai-New York (JFK) on Monday. After following the necessary protocols, the flight air-returned to Mumbai, in the interest of the safety and security of all on board.'
The flight has been rescheduled to operate at 5 am on Tuesday, and all passengers have been offered hotel accommodation, meals, and other assistance until then, it said.
'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,' the statement added.
Last month, an American Airlines flight from New York to Delhi was diverted to Rome due to a suspected bomb threat.
As per data provided to the Rajya Sabha by the civil aviation ministry on Monday, at least 15 flights of various airlines have received hoax bomb threats this year, taking the total tally of such threats to 833 since 2020.
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