Britain’s Royal Air Force (RAF) fighter jets have been pressed into service after an Indian passenger plane received a bomb threat.
By the time the RAF Typhoon jets reached, an Air India flight was flying in the sky over Norfolk.
A RAF spokesperson said the Boeing 777-300 aircraft was allowed to continue its journey after it was known to be safe.
Air India confirmed that the plane received a bomb threat on Thursday. “The plane landed safely at Heathrow Airport and all passengers and crew got off the plane.
However, a Dutch plane spotter (a man from the Netherlands who observes and records the planes) recorded the flight crew informing the Air Traffic Control about the bomb threat.
“It is suspected that there is a bomb in the plane and we are seeking a priority landing,” the plane’s captain is heard telling the ground controllers in the audio.
“We received a bomb threat. We are requesting for permission to land Air India-129,” the captain said.
Spotter’s social media ‘X’ account is in the name of @EHEH_spotter. The Netherlands man told the BBC that the captain recorded the audio using a scanner. A loud noise was heard across Norfolk as the RAF jets were on their way to the plane. Several BBC radio listeners in Norfolk said they heard the noise.
“The earth has moved in Weisenham, and I’m scared,” a man named Chris said via WhatsApp.
“I heard it in Cavityon. The doors and windows moved and made a noise. I thought the truck had rammed into the next-door workshop,” a man named Gary said in the message.
