2 F-16 jets escort Mumbai to Singapore flight after bomb hoax

Singapore/New Delhi: A Singapore Airlines flight from Mumbai to Singapore with 263 passengers onboard on Tues-day received a bomb threat, prompting Singa-pore Air Force to send two F-16s to escort the aircraft.

The flight landed safely at Singapore’s Changi International Airport on Tuesday around 8 am (local time), the airline added.

“Singapore Airlines confirms there was a bomb threat concerning SQ423 operating from Mumbai to Singapore. The aircraft arrived in Singapore on March 26, 2019, at about 0800hrs (local time).

“There were 263 passengers on board. We are assisting the authorities with their investigations and regret that we are unable to provide further details,” a statement issued by the airline said.

The Republic of Singapore Air Force said two F16C/Ds escorted the SIA aeroplane.

The RSAF said in a Facebook post that two F-16C/Ds were scrambled to intercept the SIA flight.

“Our fighters escorted the airliner till it landed safely at Changi Airport,” it said.

All passengers except for a woman and a child had to undergo screening.

The woman and the child were held back for questioning by the police, which is investigating the incident.

Preliminary checks showed that the airline received a call after the plane left Mumbai’s airport on Monday at about 11.35pm local time. The caller claimed that there was a bomb on the plane.

The plane, a Boeing 777-300ER, had departed Mu-mbai’s Chhatrapati Shiva-ji International Airport at 11.36 pm local time on Monday, according to website FlightAware.

It arrived in Singapore 31 minutes behind schedule, the site added.

“There was no impact to other SIA operations,” an SIA spokesperson said.