Bomb scare: AI plane lands at Bangalore airport

Bangalore, June 30: A Delhi-bound Air India

from Kochi, with 156 passengers and eight crew onboard, landed under emergency conditions at the international airport here late on Monday night following an "unspecific call" about a

threat, airline officials said.

After the Airbus 320 (flight AI-047) took off from Kochi around 8.40 pm, there was a call from a man saying that there could be a bomb in the aircraft, they said, adding the pilot was asked soon thereafter to land at the nearest airport, which was Bangalore.

The plane landed here around 10 pm following the call and the passengers were soon asked to disembark, the officials said.

The passengers were evacuated from the flight after it landed in Bangalore

"The flight landed. All passengers are safe. The flight is also safe. Passengers were evacuated from the flight," an official at the airport said. The flight landed at Bangalore for security check after the Kochi airport received an "unspecific call" from a person, who had come to the Kochi airport to see off his female friend, an airport police official said.

The trouble started when the woman contacted her friend over phone saying that there was lot of frisking going on at the Kochi airport and then she switched off her mobile, the official said. According to the official, the man got panicky and informed the Kochi airport authorities that he was worried about his woman friend as she had switched off her mobile after informing him that there could be bomb threat to the plane, the official said.

The ATC contacted the pilot and informed him about the reported threat following which the plane landed at the Kempe Gowda International Airport, he said. Soon after the plane landed, the bomb detection squad was pressed into action and the search operation with the involvement of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) was underway till late after midnight tonight and it might take a few hours, the police official said.

Bomb scare in Bangalore-bound plane at Kolkata airport

An unclaimed bag found inside a plane caused bombscare shortly before the Kolkata-Bangalore Indigo flight was about to take off from here today, Airport police sources said. The bag was found on the floor of the plane when the flight was ready for departure from the NSC Bose International Airport.

As no one claimed the bag even after repeated announcements, the bomb squad were informed, the police said. The bomb squad personnel, however, found nothing suspicious was found. The flight got delayed by about three hours and left for Bangalore at about 6.30 PM, the police said.

PTI