Air India flight diverts to northern Canada after online security threat

By Barry Ellsworth

TRENTON, Canada (AA) – An Air India flight with 211 crew and passengers aboard was forced to make an emergency landing Tuesday in Canada’s High Arctic region after an online security threat, Canada’s national police force said.

“On October 15, 2024 at approximately 5:21 a.m. (local time), Air India flight 127 made an emergency landing to Iqaluit, Nunavut,” the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said in a press release.

“The flight departed from New Delhi and was en route to Chicago. All 211 passenger and crew disembarked the aircraft and were relocated to the Iqaluit International airport,” it said.

Passengers are being screened and the flight will resume as soon as possible, Air India posted on X.

India’s NDTV media outlet reported Tuesday that 10 Indian airline flights were grounded within 48 hours after receiving threats that turned out to be hoaxes.

The threats come in the wake of Canada’s bombshell news Monday that the government of India has been linked to criminal activity in Canada, including homicide and extortion.

The RCMP said at a news conference that the crimes posed a “serious public threat” to Canadians. The allegations came to light as the RCMP investigated the 2023 assassination of Canadian Sikh Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a prominent proponent of the creation of a separate Sikh state in India.

As a result of the RCMP’s findings, Canada’s Foreign Minister Melanie Joly announced the expulsion of six Indian diplomats from Canada and in a tit-for-tat move later Monday, New Delhi ordered Canada’s top six diplomatic officials to leave India.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday that Canada “will never tolerate the involvement of a foreign government in threatening and killing Canadian citizens on Canadian soil – a deeply unacceptable violation of Canada’s sovereignty and of international law.”