Raipur: In yet another hoax bomb threat to the airline companies, an Indigo flight bound for West Bengal capital Kolkata with 187 passengers and six crew members onboard received a bomb threat prompting it to make an emergency landing at the Raipur airport, police said. Police have detained one passenger for the threat, which turned out to be a prank.
Raipur Senior Superintendent of Police Santosh Singh said that after receiving the bomb threat, 187 passengers and 6 crew members were safely landed at the airport. The aircraft had taken off from Nagpur for Kolkata, but was diverted after the bomb threat, Raipur's Senior Superintendent of Police said.
It is understood that the Indigo flight landed at the airport in Chhattisgarh's capital Raipur after 9 am and was immediately taken to the isolation bay for mandatory security checks as per police. The aircraft was being thoroughly checked by the technical staff and bomb squad, which found the bomb threat was a hoax as no explosive material was found on board the plane as per police. All the passengers on the plane are said to be safe, however, after this incident, flights were affected for some time at Raipur Airport.
It is understood that the bomb threat was triggered after one of the passengers told the crew about the presence of a bomb on board the plane prompting the crew to contact the ATC for the emergency landing. Police have detained the said passenger for questioning into the matter.
Earlier over 100 flights operated by various Indian airlines received bomb threats that later turned out to be hoaxes. The threats were issued mostly through social media. As already reported by ETV Bharat, Chennai airport in Tamil Nadu recieved 100 bomb threats in three months as of October 22. (With inputs from agencies)
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