Indian passenger plane makes emergency landing in Türkiye after bomb threat

ANKARA — An Air Vistara passenger plane en route from Mumbai to Frankfurt made an emergency landing in eastern Türkiye on Friday following a bomb threat, a local official said.

The aircraft, carrying 247 passengers and crew, landed at Erzurum Airport where bomb disposal experts are searching the plane, Erzurum Governor Mustafa Ciftci told state broadcaster TRT.

“The plane belonging to Vistara Airlines first wanted to land at Ordu airport when a bomb threat was reported in the air. But since there was renovation work there, they directed it to Trabzon. Since the air traffic is also heavy there, they diverted it to Erzurum,” Ciftci said.

The governor added that Erzurum airspace has been closed to flights.

Vistara, a joint venture of India’s Tata Group and Singapore Airlines, has not commented on the incident. Turkish authorities have not yet provided details on the nature of the bomb threat or its origin.

XINHUA