Bomb hoaxes continue to pester Indian airlines after a flight to New Delhi from Kathmandu had to undergo a disruptive inspection on 2 November.
Dambar Bahadur BK, chief of police at Nepal’s Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA), told ANI News the plane was searched for hours but no suspicious object was found.
The airport received another call on Monday that there was a bomb on Air India flight AI 216 bound for New Delhi.
This prompted authorities to activate the emergency protocol as the flight landed at 2:41 p.m. at TIA. Again, no bomb was found.
Out of 400 bomb threats received by Air India, Vistara and Air Akasa in the last few weeks, authorities arrested only one suspect, according to a report by Mint.
While the motive for the India bomb threats remains unclear, recent bomb threats to several offices of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) on Monday were triggered by public outrage.
“Over the last 48 hours, at least 12 bomb threats had been called in to the Department of Environmental Conservation,” Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office said on Monday, New York Post (NYP) reports.
“Governor Hochul strongly condemns these outrageous threats of violence and is grateful to the New York State Police for their work to investigate these threats and support the state workforce,” it added.
The DEC earned the ire of pet lovers after its agents raided the farm of Mark and Daniela Longo in Elmira and seized their squirrel named P’nut and raccoon named Fred after neighbors complained wild animals lived on the farm. After P’nut bit one of the agents on the hand, the Longos’ pets were euthanized on 1 November so they could be tested for rabies.
P’nut became an internet sensation after the orphaned baby squirrel was rescued and nursed by Mark Longo in 2017. Longo’s posts of their adventures in the next seven years drew more than 828,000 followers to the Instagram account peanut_the_squirrel12.
The Longos and the fans are mourning the loss of P’nut with the owner breaking down during an interview with NYP.