Flight TK-65 wasn't a first: At least 6 bomb scares at Turkish Airlines have occurred this year

Bizarre though it may sound but Turkish Airlines had in April this year banned the use of lavatories before take off after a string bomb hoaxes forced the carrier to cough out a huge sum of money due to emergency landings in different international airports. [caption id=“attachment_730023” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  A Turkish Airlines aircraft. AFP[/caption] But even then it seems there is no respite for the airline. On Tuesday, a Turkish Airlines flight from Bangkok to Istanbul underwent a thorough check by multiple teams of the CISF and National Security Guards at the IGI Airport in New Delhi after it made a emergency landing due to a security scare. According to airport sources, a message, written with lipstick, on the bathroom mirror of the plane warned of a bomb in the cargo hold of the plane. Ironically, threatening messages in the aircraft lavatory indicating bomb threats have almost become a regular feature of the airlines. On Monday, Turkish Airlines flight TK-1983 from Istanbul to London was diverted to Belgrad due to “suspicious item on board”, the Flightradar24 tweeted out. The Daily Mail on 26 June reported that a New York-bound Turkish Airlines aircraft carrying 292 passengers had to make an emergency landing at Copenhagen’s international airport after an old camera bag caused a bomb scare. No peeing before flying order actually came after five bomb scares took place in March and April this year itself within short duration from each other. “On March 29, a THY flight headed to Tokyo had to return to Istanbul soon after takeoff when a note was found in the lavatory with the writing “C4 cargo.” On March 30, an Istanbul-Sao Paulo flight had to make an emergency landing in Casablanca when another note suggesting a bomb was once again found in one of the lavatories."— a BGN News report said. On 1 April, a small unidentified device forced a Istanbul-Lisbon flight to return to the Turkish capital after it triggered a scare. The device later turned out to be a speaker. In another instance, a note was discovered with word ‘bomb’ was found in the lavatory of an Istanbul-Basel flight forcing the aircraft to dash back to Istanbul. Another similar note was discovered in an Istanbul-Tokyo flight just before take off compelling the airlines to carry out detail security checks which had delayed the flight by four hours.