Al Haqeeqa
New Delhi: At least 50 flights operated by Indian airlines received bomb threats on Sunday, October 27, according to sources.
In 14 days, more than 350 flights operated by the Indian carriers have received hoax bomb threats. Most of the threats were issued through social media.
Akasa Air on Sunday said 15 of its flights got security alerts, and after thorough inspections, all aircraft were released for operations.
The sources in the know said IndiGo received threats for 18 flights and Vistara for 17 flights.
Earlier, on Saturday as many as 33 flights received bomb threats. The sources in the know said 11 flights each of IndiGo, Air India and Vistara received the threats on Saturday.
In a statement, an Air India spokesperson said a number of its flights were subject to security threats received on social media on Saturday.
Amid the unabated flight hoax bomb threats to airlines via global Internet platforms, the Centre on Saturday directed social media intermediaries like Elon Musk-headed X and Meta to ensure due diligence and promptly remove misinformation that affects public order and security of the state.
In an advisory, the IT Ministry said such hoax bomb threats are mostly misinformation that is massively disrupting the public order, operations of airlines and security of airline travellers.
“Considering the serious nature of the situation, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology reminds with emphasis that all the intermediaries including social media intermediaries must make reasonable efforts to disallow such malicious acts including hoax bomb threats to flights from being disseminated on their platforms,” read the advisory.
The advisory further stated that the intermediaries including social media intermediaries must observe their due diligence obligations that include the prompt removal or disabling access to such unlawful information specified under the IT Rules, 2021, including hoax bomb threats, well within the strict timelines as prescribed under the IT Rules, 2021.
