An IndiGo plane, heading from Lucknow to Dammam, touched down on emergency grounds at Ahmedabad airport on Thursday when a crew member came across a piece of paper with a message reading just “bomb”.
The note was recovered from IndiGo flight 6E 97 that was carrying 107 passengers and six crew members, according to Ahmedabad Police. As soon as the discovery was made the aircraft was deflected to Ahmedabad as a precautionary move.
The plane touched down at Ahmedabad airport at about 5.40 p.m. safely. Assistance from security agencies immediately follows and an investigation was carried out along with the safety measures prescribed to assess the actual threat on board.
It did disrupt the flight due to the emergency landing and the passengers’ flight had to be diverted to its destination in Saudi Arabia. The security screening will be done before the aircraft can go through.
A recovery flight from Ahmedabad was slated to take off at about 8:30 pm to help passengers who were involved in the diversion.
Incidents involving threatening notes are regarded as a serious issue with regard to security, regardless of whether the threat is later determined to be a hoax. Security will thus be checking the plane and its surroundings in detail before giving permission to fly.
Other information on the source of the note and any further security issues identified will awaits to be known.