In a security scare, a knife was found in a toilet of a Colombo-bound Kingfisher Airlines plane shortly before take-off on Sunday during a security check at the airport in Chennai.
The five-inch long kitchen knife was found by the cleaning staff in a dustbin of the toilet located on the rear side of the plane at around 1200 hrs, official sources said tonight. The Flight IT-232 had earlier arrived from New Delhi.
The staff informed the airport authorities who did a thorough anti-sabotage check of the aircraft. The airplane was later allowed to took off for Colombo, the sources said.
The passengers were off-loaded before the check was carried out, a spokesman of the Kingfisher Airlines said. The number of passengers on board were not known immediately.
The security agencies were still trying to ascertain how the knife found is way into the aircraft.
On its return journey from Colombo, the aircraft was again sanitised by the CISF at the Chennai airport at around 1700 hrs before it left for New Delhi, the sources said.
The flight had since landed at the domestic airport in Delhi.
{{/usCountry}}The flight had since landed at the domestic airport in Delhi.
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