Two flights bound for Nepal and Bhubaneswar scheduled to depart around 11.30 am were grounded just before taking off after security agencies were alerted to a bomb threat call on the two airliners at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) on Thursday. While Nepal-bound fight took off at 5.35 pm after anti-sabotage checks, fight bound for Bhubaneswar was cancelled.
According to IGIA officials, passengers on-board the two flights — Royal Nepal Airlines (Delhi-Kathmandu) and Air India (Delhi-Bhubaneswar) — were evacuated and taken to the isolation bay where security agencies carried out anti-sabotage checks after a threat call was received by the airport control room at about 10 am.
While the Kathmandu flight (RA-206) had 155 passengers and nine crew members, the flight bound for Odisha’s capital Bhubaneswar (AI-075) had 178 fliers and seven crew members. Passengers of both the flights and their baggage were subjected to a second round of checking with the Bomb Threat Assessment Committee (BTAC) at the IGIA monitoring the situation.
Security personnel from the CISF and the Delhi Police cordoned off the two planes along with bomb disposal squads, the officials said. They added anti-sabotage checks were conducted after the airport control room received a call from a person identifying himself as Abhishek Singh, a “CBI officer” and said that while there is a “time bomb” in the Nepal-bound flight, some “movement” has happened at the terminal area to hit the AI flight. Officials said the agencies are trying to track the number and location from where the call was made to the airport call centre.
Preliminary reports said four Members of Parliament were to travel on the AI flight. Talking about the menace of hoax calls, Central Industrial Security Force chief Surender Singh had said while 44 such calls were received at various airports last year and 16 such calls have been made till early March this year.