A bomb threat to Air Canada’s Toronto-bound flight turned out to be a hoax, local media reported on Wednesday.
The international flight scheduled to take off Tuesday night from Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport was taken to the isolation bay immediately after an email stating that a bomb had been planted on it.
An email was received regarding a bomb inside an Air Canada flight scheduled to depart for Toronto from IGI airport on Tuesday, an official said on Wednesday, adding that it turned out to be a hoax.
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Deputy Commissioner of Police (IGI airport) Usha Rangnani said that at 10:50 p.m. on Tuesday, the Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) office at IGI airport received an email with the threat of a bomb inside an Air Canada flight which was scheduled to depart for Toronto.
A thorough inspection was conducted and nothing suspicious was found and it was determined that it was a hoax bomb threat, according to police.
The incident was the latest among a series of hoax bomb threats that have been sent to schools, airports and hospitals in the national capital.
Last week, a domestic flight was taken to an isolation bay under similar circumstances at the airport in the Indian capital but the scare turned out to be a hoax.
Besides in Delhi, schools in Jaipur, Lucknow, Kanpur, Ahmedabad and Bengaluru have received a series of similar hoax bomb threat.
This comes a day after an Akasa Air flight, flying from Delhi to Mumbai on Monday, carrying 186 passengers — one infant and six crew members on board — was diverted to Ahmedabad airport after a bomb threat was received.
“The captain followed all required emergency procedures and landed the flight safely at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport (Ahmedabad) at 10:13 hours. All passengers were deplaned and nothing suspicious was found,” said an airline official.
The spate of hoax bomb threats gives serious cause for concern in aviation circles.