Security agencies of airports in Delhi and Bengaluru were overstretched following four bomb threat calls received in quick succession and the spotting of “big balloon” hovering over Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) triggered panic in the national Capital on Wednesday.
Immediately, the aviation authorities decided to ground three flights, including two international.
While Air India and Jet Airways flights to Kathmandu were grounded at IGIA, no-frills airline AirAsia’s Goa flight from Bengaluru also failed to take off on scheduled time due to similar reasons. later they got clearance from the security agencies to fly.
Though an airport official said the balloon could not be located, the Delhi Police cleared the air and tweeted that the “big balloon” hovering over the Delhi airport belonged to the India Meteorological Department and that there was nothing to panic about.
Earlier it was reported that the call centre of the Delhi International Airport ltd (DIAl) received a call about spotting of the “big balloon” following which the airport was put on alert.
The security agencies at the IGIA activated their resources to tackle the balloon issue while the Delhi Police, Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) were already in the mid of anti-sabotage drill on the two the Kathmandu-bound flights, one each of Air India and Jet Airways. The twin flights were grounded just before their departure from IGIA following a bomb scare.
On the first incident, the two flights that were scheduled to take off for the Nepalese Capital at 1.15 pm and 1.25 pm, respectively, were grounded just before their departure. This is the second such incident of grounding of an aircraft due to a bomb scare as on Saturday a flight of Jet Airways was delayed by six hours due to the grounding of the plane after a bomb threat call, which turned out to be a hoax.
While 121 passengers were on the Air India flight, Jet Airways said it had 122 passengers and seven crew on board its flight 9W 260.
The two aircraft were taken to the isolation bay, where security personnel from the Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) carried out an extensive search of the baggage and check-in luggage of the passengers, the sources said.
“Jet Airways flight 9W 260, scheduled to depart from Delhi for Kathmandu at 1.25 pm, has been delayed due to a security alert. All 122 guests and 7 crew have been taken to the departures waiting area at the airport,” Jet Airways said in a statement.
National carrier Air India also said the flight has been delayed due the same reason.
On the second incident an alert was sounded at the IGIA in the evening after authorities received a call about a big balloon hovering over the airport.
DCP of IGI airport DK Gupta said all security agencies have been informed about the information though police has not spotted the object.”The call was received around 5 pm and the caller said the “big balloon” was heading from the airport towards Aya Nagar in South Delhi following which an alert was issued at the IGI,” said Gupta.
In a similar incident, a mysterious balloon-shaped object was shot down on Tuesday by a Sukhoi-30 fighter aircraft in Rajasthan’s Barmer district, bordering Pakistan, after the IAF radar detected it. Defence officials said no dangerous payload was found. No one was hurt nor was any damage caused to property in the area.