Colombo terror alert forces diversion of two flights

Chennai, Apr 27 (UNI) Two international flights to Colombo were diverted to Anna International Airport here last midnight, following the closure of Bandaranayake international airport there for some time, after a terror alert in Colombo.

A Colombo bound Singapore-Colombo Pacific Airlines flight landed here at 0015 hrs with 116 passengers and left for Colombo 0330 hrs, airport sources said.

A Dubai bound Singapore-Dubai flight via Colombo, carrying 408 passengers landed here around 0200 hrs. Though the Colombo airport authorities permitted the Emerald Jumbo jet aircraft to take off at 0330 hrs, the pilots of the two aircraft refused to operate the flights as they wanted a break from the tiresome work.

On information, the airlines authorities sent two other pilots in another scheduled flight at 0915 hrs this morning and operated the the flight directly to Dubai with 274 passengers.

The remaining 134 passengers bound for Colombo were sent there by Jet Airways and Air Lanka flights this morning, the sources added.

UNI