Flight 292 landed at Rome's Leonardo da Vinci Rome Fiumicino Airport "due to a possible security issue," the airline said in a statement on Sunday, adding later the threat "was determined to be non-credible".
Italian Air Force/Handout via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY] The airline did not clarify what the security issue was, but a source familiar with the situation told Sky News' US partner network NBC News it was a bomb threat sent via email.
Neeraj Chopra, one of the 199 passengers on board, said the captain announced the plane had to turn around about three hours before it was supposed to land in New Delhi because of a change in "security status".
The flight requested a diversion to Rome's Leonardo da Vinci Rome Fiumicino Airport at around 2pm local time, Roberto Rao, a spokesperson for the airport.
"We don't know what the security concern was, but my opinion is that it was serious enough to divert the plane, but not urgent, because we received the alert when the plane was over the Caspian Sea, a three hours' flight from Rome.".
