Airport bomb hoax sends staff into tizzy

A piece of paper with a message stating that there was a bomb on a Mumbai-bound flight had the authorities at Chandigarh Airport in a tizzy this afternoon. The incident occurred in the afternoon after Kingfisher flight IT 3185 landed at Chandigarh from Mumbai and all the passengers had deplaned. A security alert was received.

The authorities were notified immediately and security procedures were initiated. The passengers departing from the UT had not yet boarded the aircraft when the alert was received. The Airbus A320 was moved to a remote bay and cleared by the authorities after a check. The aircraft, scheduled to depart for Mumbai as flight IT3183 at 3.40 pm, departed 5.45 pm with 100 passengers and six crew members.

Kingfisher Airlines Vice-President (Corporate Communication) Prakash Mirpuri said that it was after a thorough check and clearance from the authorities that the flight departed. A few flights were parked at the Air Force Station for some time till the airport authorities gave an all-clear sign.