Mumbai-Lucknow IndiGo flight grounded after bomb threat call

Shiv Kumar
Tribune News Service
Mumbai, December 15

A woman who claimed to have overheard some passengers talking about a bomb on board an aircraft from Mumbai to Lucknow via Delhi sparked off a major terror scare at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport early this morning.

According to airport officials, the woman approached the ground staff at Indigo Airlines check-in counter at around 5 this morning and informed them that she overheard some passengers talking of planting a bomb on board the Mumbai-Delhi flight 6E 3612, which was to depart a shortly. The woman, who was booked on a GoAir flight, even described the passengers who she claimed were “a threat to the nation”, according to officials.

The Airbus A320, which the woman was speaking about, had arrived from Mumbai from Chennai at 12.45 am and was parked at the airport bay A11N, according to airport officials.

"After the woman's allegations the security protocol was activated as the Bomb Threat Assessment Committee (BTAC) found the threat 'specific'," an official from the CISF said. Following protocol the aircraft was taken to an isolated bay for checks of the landing gear, doors, cockpit and cargo hold. Meanwhile, the woman started giving vague replies to security officials after which they concluded that she was “mentally unsound”.

It is not clear what action was being taken against her.

An IndiGo Airlines statement said the flight then left for Delhi with 169 passengers and crew after a delay of one hour.