Bomb scare: Flights for Nepal, Odisha delayed

A hoax bomb call grounded two flights just before take off and kept security agencies on their toes on Thursday morning at IGI Airport, leaving over 300 passengers stranded for eight hours. Four MPs were reportedly onboard the Bhubaneswar-bound AI flight.

The Kathmandu-bound Royal Nepal Airlines flight (RA-206) had 155 passengers and nine crew members, while the flight to Bhubaneswar (AI-075) had 178 passengers and seven crew members. 

According to the airport officials, passengers on board the two aircraft were evacuated and taken to the isolation bay, where agencies carried out anti-sabotage checks after a threat call was received by the airport control room at 10.04 am, claiming that there was a ‘time bomb’ in the Nepal-bound flight, and some ‘movement’ had occurred at the terminal area to hit the AI flight.

Passengers of both the flights and their baggage were subjected to a second round of checking with the Bomb Threat Assessment Committee (BTAC) at the IGIA to monitor the situation. Security personnel from the CISF and Delhi Police along with bomb disposal squads cordoned off the two planes, officials said.

The call came from a person identifying himself as Abhishek Singh, a ‘CBI officer’.