Bomb scare on Iran-China flight: IAF scrambles jets to intercept aircraft

The Indian Air Force scrambled fighter jets to intercept a civilian Mahan Air flight from Tehran headed for Guangzhou in China on Monday morning after a bomb threat, people familiar with the development said.

The incident happened in the morning when flight W581 was flying over Indian airspace, sources said. The pilots decided not to land in India and proceeded to China.

The Delhi Air Traffic Control (ATC) received inputs from the Lahore ATC that there was a bomb threat on the Mahan Air flight. Subsequently, the Delhi ATC informed the pilots but they decided to fly on, the sources said.

As the aircraft did not follow the suggestion, laid down operational procedures were put into action, they said.

There is no official comment on the incident by either the IAF or civil aviation authorities.