(Rptg with corrections in para one and five)

Chennai, Oct 15 (UNI) A Colombo-bound Sri Lankan Airlines flight got delayed for about seven hours following a bomb threat call received by security personnel at the Anna International Airport here today.

Airport sources said the flight was about to take off when the caller informed the security that a bomb had been planted aboard the aircraft and it might go off at any moment.

Following this, the Air Traffic Control instructed the pilot to stop the flight immediately and asked all the 302 passengers and crew to disembark.

The aircraft was taken to an isolated place where bomb disposal squads conducted a thorough check of the passenger and cargo areas.

However, the search did not yield anything.

Following this, aircraft was allowed to take off by 1612 hrs instead of the scheduled 1050 hrs.

Airport Duty Manager said the caller might have tried it to delay the flight. Efforts were on to trace him.

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