Two jets evacuated in bomb scares at Delhi airport

Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport, which has received 21 hoax calls in the past 14 months, reported another such call on Thursday morning, leaving over 300 passengers stranded for eight hours.

Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport, which has received 21 hoax calls in the past 14 months, reported another such call on Thursday morning, leaving over 300 passengers stranded for eight hours.

The authorities rushed into action after receiving a threat call at around 10am, saying there were bombs planted inside the two flights. (AFP File Photo)

A search operation was carried out after the airport call centre received a message threatening a bomb blast inside two aircraft. The call was declared a hoax after thorough checks, an official said. There were four Members of Parliament on board one of the aircraft.

The authorities rushed into action after receiving a threat call at around 10am, saying there were bombs planted inside the two flights.

Bomb squads and other security teams started frisking and checks at the airport after the call. “At 10.04 am, a call was received on the landline that there are bombs in flights. The caller named himself Abhishek Singh from the CBI office. The authorities declared the threat as specific and CISF activated all standard drills,” an official said.

A bomb threat assessment committee was formed and the aircraft were taken to an isolation bay for checking. Passengers on a Kathmandu-bound Nepal Airlines flight and a Bhubaneswar-bound Air India flight were evacuated after the threat.

“The Nepal Airlines flight RA 206 and Air India flight 075 were taken to an isolation bay for security scanning and clearance. Security officials were also asked to re check the baggage on the two planes. Both numbers mentioned by caller were found to be wrong and non existent,” an official said.

The police will now register a case and initiate the investigation to identify the caller. Initial investigation suggest that the caller is same who had made a call of bomb on Delhi-Bangkok flight on Wednesday follwoing which the flight was searched at Bangkok airport.