Bomb threat triggers full emergency at Thiruvananthapuram airport

A bomb threat on a Mumbai-Thiruvananthapuram Air India flight led to a full emergency at Thiruvananthapuram airport, later deemed a hoax. Police are investigating.

A bomb threat message found in the washroom of a Mumbai-Thiruvananthapuram Air India flight that resulted in a full emergency being declared at the Thiruvananthapuram airport on Thursday turned out to be a hoax, police officials said.

Security personnel conduct inspection of an Air India aircraft after it received a bomb threat, in Thiruvananthapuram, Thursday. (PTI)

One of the passengers was likely behind the hoax, officials said, adding that no explosive was found on the aircraft after an intensive search carried out by security agencies.

The information about the threat was relayed by the pilot of the aircraft to the airport authorities after a “bomb in flight” message was found written on a piece of tissue in the washroom around 7.30am when the plane was approaching the airport, the officials said.

Subsequently, a full emergency was declared at the airport at 7.36am, they said, and the aircraft with 135 people on board landed at around 8am and moved to an isolation bay.

Operations at the airport continued uninterrupted despite the bomb scare. “The crew carried out all the laid-down security drills keeping passenger safety as top priority,” the airline said in a statement.

“Air India accords top priority to the safety of its passengers and crew,” it said.

The passengers were evacuated by around 8.44 am and security agencies, including a bomb detection squad, inspected the aircraft for any explosive devices, the officials said.

The emergency declared at the airport in the morning was withdrawn around 12.10pm after security agencies confirmed it was a hoax, police officials said, adding that all the 135 passengers who travelled on the flight were permitted to leave at 12.45pm.

Police have launched an investigation into the incident.

“The bomb threat… was not there when the aircraft took off from Mumbai. So, the person behind the hoax threat is suspected to be a passenger,” Thiruvananthapuram deputy commissioner of police Bharat Reddy said.

“We have around three suspects among the passengers. We have taken handwriting samples from all passengers to get a match with the threat. The investigation is going on. No one has been detained yet,” Reddy said.