‘Everyone was afraid’: Passengers on New York-Delhi flight diverted to Rome

An American Airlines flight headed to Delhi from New York was diverted to Italy’s Rome on Saturday after a security concern was reported, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) confirmed. The flight landed safely in Rome and was later cleared to re-depart.

According to American Airlines, the flight landed at Leonardo da Vinci International Airport and was cleared to re-depart from there after it was “inspected by law enforcement”, reported Associated Press (AP). While the cause of the security threat was not specified by the airlines, it said that it was necessary to inspect the flight before it landed in Delhi due to protocol.

Also read: Video: Eurofighter jets escort diverted Delhi-bound American Airlines flight to Rome

An official of the airlines, on condition of anonymity, told news agency AFP, “the possible issue was determined to be non-credible, but per DEL Airport protocol, an inspection was required before landing at DEL.”

The flight was escorted to the Rome airport by two fighter jets of the Italian Air Force. Sharing the visuals of the plane being escorted, the Italian Air Force said, “in the afternoon, two #Eurofighter from the #AeronauticaMilitare took off on alert to identify and escort a passenger plane headed to Delhi that had turned back towards Fiumicino airport (RM) due to a report of a suspected explosive device on board.”

The airline also said that the flight would stay in Rome overnight so that the crew can rest before heading for Delhi on Monday.

‘Everyone was afraid’

The passengers, while describing what happened on the flight, said that everyone was afraid.

According to one of the passengers, Mahesh Kumar, who is an IT consultant, the announcement of flight diversion was made three hours before it was scheduled to land in Delhi. “Everyone was afraid. Everyone was staying quiet and obeying the orders…They asked us to sit down and not to roam around while the fighter jets were near us” he was quoted as saying by AFP.

Confirming the timing of the diversion announcement, another passenger, Neeraj Chopra, said that people were calm after the first announcement. However, after learning that their plane will be escorted by fighter jets, he said that stress took him over.

“I felt a little panic of, okay, what’s going on here…There’s got to be like something bigger going on here,” he told AP.

Another passenger, 22-year-old Jonathan Bacon informed AP that for much of the flight, there was no internet connection. He also said that passengers were taken to the terminal after landing where they were put through lengthy security screens.

The personal belongings of all the passengers were being screened. Even after a couple of hours of landing, Bacon kept waiting for his checked-in luggage which, he was informed, was also being screened.