Nearly 100 hydrochloric acid boxes loaded onto Doha flight

Kochi, Jan 27 (PTI) As many as 98 boxes containinghydrochloric acid were loaded on to a Doha-bound QatarAirlines flight here, after the exporter wrongly declared itas ''not dangerous'', but was offloaded before the take-off.

One of the boxes containing the acid fell down andsmoke was seen emanating when the security personnel werealerted. Later, all the boxes were offloaded from theaircraft, airport sources said today.

The flight later left at its scheduled time with 156passengers and nine crew members.

Airport Director A K C Nair said airport authoritieshave filed a case against the Thrissur-based Infra ScientificAgency and the Air Transport Association (IATA) agent throughwhom the consignment was sent.

Airport and Police have begun investigation into howthe consignment was permitted into the aircraft.

Nair said the exporter wrongly declared that theconsignment containing 100 boxes were medical equipment andwere ''not dangerous''.

The airport authorities have also decided not toaccept any consignments from the exporter and the IATA agentfollowing the incident.