On March 26, 2019, Singapore Airlines (SIA) flight SQ432 received a bomb threat in mid-air.

The plane was en route to Singapore at that time.

Even though the threat eventually turned out to be a hoax, the passengers on the plane could not have known this for sure.

One of the passengers, Vijay Singh, shared what the harrowing experience was like in a recent Vice report.

Tension among the passengers

Vijay told Vice that the pilot made an announcement about 30 minutes before landing, saying that there might be a bomb on the plane, but it could very well be a hoax.

In response to the announcement, there was no screaming or shouting, he said.

However, he described how there was a lot of tension, confusion and nervous gestures among the passengers.

"For most people, it was hard to deal with being in a confined space and being told there was a bomb there. There was no escape. Nowhere to run. All anyone could do was sit there and hope on the inside while pretending everything was fine on the outside."

Vijay also started to wonder if he would make it out alive:

"I was thinking, who is going to take care of my kids if something happens to this plane?"

Received little reassurance

Even though there were F-16 fighter jets escorting the plane back to Changi, he claimed that this did little to reassure him:

"The sight of a military jet only confirmed the situation was escalating, so I couldn’t bring myself to film the situation. What if these were my final moments?

Staring at the jet, I asked myself what they would do if there really was a bomb on the plane. Would they shoot us down to protect Singapore? Why military planes? Why F-16s? How could they help?"

And apart from the initial announcement informing the passengers of the bomb threat, Vijay claimed that there were no further announcements.

The lack of updates, he said, "didn't help calm the nerves either".

It was previously reported that the two fighter jets intercepted the SIA plane and got close enough to it "to observe if there were any abnormal activities within the cockpit and the cabin".

Left with more questions than answers

After landing safely, Vijay was frustrated that nothing more was said about the incident.

He also said that were no follow-up updates from the airline, leaving him with more questions than answers at the end of it:

"I wonder, why was the announcement even made? It's weird to tell people there might be a bomb on their plane when you aren’t sure if it’s true. What warrants an announcement? Why freak someone out? Or is it better for passengers to know of the possibility?

And what about the child and a woman from the flight who were reportedly held for questioning. Who are they? Where are they? Why would they be connected?"

He was "grateful to be alive", though.

You can read the full Vice report here.

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