Iran-China plane with 'Bomb Threat' lands in Guangzhou, airline says it was a hoax

The Iranian plane that raised a bomb scare made an emergency landing in China. Republic TV accessed the visuals from the Guangzhou airport where the 'Mahan Air' was seen halted on the runway

Mahan Airline Iran China plane, which had sounded a “bomb threat” onboard over Indian airspace,  has said that the threat call was a hoax. 

In a statement, the airline said, "It seems that the design of such reports in the current international and domestic conditions was proposed in order to disturb security and peace of mind. In line with its lofty goals, which is primarily to maintain flight safety and provide good service to passengers, Mahan Airlines has made its determination even more."

"As soon as the pilot learned about the possibility of a bomb in the flight, he shared the situation with the control center and recognised the operation control center of Mahan that this story was fake and the flight was completely safe.

The Mahan Air plane, which had sounded a “bomb threat” onboard, landed in China's Guangzhou. The flight travelled from Tehran in Iran to Guangzhou. The plane had alarmed “bomb threat” over Indian airspace.

"At around 9:25 am we were informed of a bomb scare after which we deployed our teams in a stand-by position but the flight did not land in New Delhi. We were given an all-clear message at 10.05 am by security", said Sanjay Tomar, Deputy Chief Fire Officer on the bomb scare on the Tehran-China flight.

Republic accessed the Indian Air force statement on the bomb scare on the Iranian Airlines flight which said, "Iranian aircraft with bomb threat was given an option to land at Jaipur or Chandigarh, but the pilot refused and continued journey. Iran said to ignore the threat"

After the bomb scare, the Indian Air Force sources informed, "IAF jets were scrambled after info was received and we were following it maintaining a safe distance as per SOPs. However, the aircraft was allowed to continue on its flight towards China after Iranian agencies asked us to disregard the threat. We continued to follow it closely till the time it left Indian airspace. The aircraft is now out of Indian air space"

The Indian Air Force will shortly release a statement over the bomb threat onboard the China-bound Iranian passenger jet after it had entered Indian airspace.

Indian Air Force (IAF) fighter planes have been dispatched after a “bomb threat” was reported onboard an Iranian passenger jet over Indian airspace. This came at the time when a passenger plane carrying Iranians over Indian airspace was on its way to China. When the plane reached Indian airspace while heading towards its final destination, Indian officials were alerted. The passenger plane is currently headed for China. 

Meanwhile, IAF scrambled Sukhoi-30MKI fighter planes from the airfields in Jodhpur and Punjab. The nature of the bomb threat onboard the Iranian aircraft is still unclear. 

According to sources, inputs were received at 9:20 am by Delhi Police about a bomb threat on board a Mahan Air flight headed to Guangzhou in China from Tehran in Iran. It triggered an alert and permission was not granted for the plane to land in Delhi and the plane was instructed by Air Traffic Control (ATC) to divert to Jaipur. Reportedly the pilot refused to divert the plane following which Indian Air Force jets were scrambled to intercept and escort the plane.
 
The aircraft was headed to China as its final destination, had entered Indian airspace when the alert from Indian Air Traffic Control was shared with the plane. Indian Air Force Su-30MKI fighter jets from Punjab and Jodhpur airbases were scrambled to intercept the plane, sources told ANI.