Hijack scare in Indigo plane due to passenger's SMS

Kolkata: A Delhi-bound Indigo Airlines plane, with 138 passengers and three crew members on board, returned to the N S C Bose International airport here tonight after a hijack-scare triggered by a passenger's SMS to her relative.
An SMS stating that a terrorist was on board was found to be a hoax as a thorough search of the aircraft yeiled nothing, Airports Authority of India (AAI) sources said.
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Overheard some conversation
"One Mr. Naresh Ahuja had called up the
airport warning that the flight might be
hijacked after he received an SMS from
his daughter who had overheard some
conversation," said Mahesh Kaul, an
airport official.
"The flight has been kept in the isolation
bay and has been thoroughly searched,
but no explosives have been found. All
130 passengers on board are safe," Kaul
told IANS.
Dipayan Majumdar, one of the passengers,
said: "We had to come back midway after
the SMS led to confusion. We have
disembarked and fresh boarding passes
will be allotted and hopefully the flight will
leave soon."
12/03/07 IANS/Mangalorean.com
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The plane, which took off at 7:45 pm, was asked to return by the Air Traffic Control after the relative of a woman passsenger alerted the ATC here of an SMS cautioning about a possible hijack by a terorrist travelling in the plane. Sources said that the plane returned here at 9:13 pm and was taken to an isolation bay for a thorough search by CISF personnel and commandos after deplaning the passengers.
The woman passenger, identified as M Ahuja, was detained for interrogation for allegedly sending the SMS to her relative that caused the scare.
12/03/07 PTI/The Hindu

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Categories: Indigo Airlines Mar 2007