Hyderabad, Dec 8 (IANS) Bomb threats to three flights, including two international flights, sent authorities at Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) into a tizzy. All three flights landed safely on Sunday night, officials at RGIA said on Monday.

A bomb threat email was received at RGIA customer support for three flights coming from Kannur, Frankfurt, and Heathrow. Airport authorities activated standard safety protocols. All three flights landed safely, according to a statement from the airport authorities.

After a thorough check by the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and police, along with the bomb disposal squads, the bomb threats proved to be a hoax.

IndiGo flight from Kannur to Hyderabad (6E 7178) landed safely at 10:50 p.m. The bomb threat was also targeted at Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt to Hyderabad (LH 752). The flight landed safely at 2 a.m. on Monday.

British Airways flight BA 277 from Heathrow to Hyderabad also landed safely at 5.20 a.m. on Monday. Police launched an investigation to identify the sender of the email.

The latest bomb threat came a day after similar emails were received on Saturday (December 6), targeting four flights within a span of less than 12 hours. While three flights landed safely at RGIA, the fourth was forced to return to its departure airport as a precaution.

After intensive checks, all the bomb threats had proved to be a hoax.

The bomb threats had targeted Air India flight AI 2879 from Delhi to Hyderabad, British Airways flight BA 277 from Heathrow to Hyderabad, and Singapore Airlines flight SQ 518 from Singapore to Hyderabad. The three flights landed safely at Hyderabad airport.

However, Kuwait Airways flight KU 373 from Kuwait to Hyderabad returned to Kuwait as a precaution, as it was the closest airport at the time of threat detection.

A series of bomb threats has targeted flights this month.

On December 5, an Emirates flight from Dubai to Hyderabad received a similar emailed threat but landed safely, and a thorough check was conducted. Two IndiGo flights — from Kuwait to Hyderabad and Medinah to Hyderabad — were diverted following bomb threat messages on December 2 and December 4.

–IANS

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