A Delhi-Pune Vistara flight received a hoax bomb threat call at IGI airport leading to a delay of eight hours on Friday (August 18), officials said. A GMR Group-run call centre received a bomb threat call that was scheduled to take off from Delhi's IGI airport on Friday morning. Soon after, the aircraft was kept in isolation for proper inspection by security agencies and no suspicious item was found on board, an official said. The flight was scheduled for departure at 8:30 am
The inspection of the aircraft was done in the isolation bay at the airport. All the passengers along with their luggage were deboarded safely.
A call regarding a bomb on the flight was received at around 8:53 am by the GMR call centre today. Delhi Police has filed an FIR in this regard against the caller for making a hoax call at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport.
"UK-971 Delhi to Pune flight received a bomb threat at GMR call center in Gurugram," a security agency official told media. There were more than 100 passengers in the aircraft and all the passengers' luggage were de-boarded. The passengers are currently in the terminal building and they were served refreshments, the official said.
As per the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), the plane cannot be scheduled until the security agencies give clearance and go ahead with the flight. The flight will leave for the destination (Pune) as soon as the final clearance is received from the security agencies.
"The passengers were de-boarded and we checked the aircraft from inside and outside, but nothing suspicious was found. A case is being registered and further investigation is underway," the officer said.
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