Delhi: According to sources, ground staff of the national carrier made a hoax call on Saturday night, claiming there was a bomb on board a flight at the Amritsar airport, as the flight captain was about to take off even though two passengers were missing.
The incident occurred at the Sri Guru Ram Dass International (SGRI) Airport as Air India's flight 187 (Amritsar-Delhi-Toronto), with 139 passengers on board, had just begun its 'pre-scheduled' journey.
Sources in Air India said flight captain VK Saini had asked the ground staff to clear the aircraft early as his working hours were about to get over.
"However, the flight, which was originally expected to take off at 10.15 pm, got delayed and was scheduled for departure at 10.45 pm. The flight captain had an argument with the ground staff after which he sought clearance from the Air Traffic Control (ATC) and asked crew members to prepare for take off at around 10.15 pm and began pushback," said an Air India official. However, two passengers - identified as Ashwini and Veena - were yet to board the flight, though their luggage had been loaded.
Realising the situation, some members of the ground staff allegedly made a call to the ATC saying the flight was carrying baggage, which could have explosives inside.
"The local ATC immediately informed the pilot and asked him to abort the flight, which had by the time reached the runway. The flight was pushed back and taken to an isolated bay as per the standard operating procedure for the situation," said an official.
"All the passengers were deplaned, their baggage offloaded and rescanned. Security officials inspected the aircraft for almost four hours. Finally, the passengers were reissued the boarding passes. At around 3 am, the call was declared a hoax and the flight finally departed at 3.25 am -a delay of 5 hours - with all 141 passengers," sources said.
Later, when an investigation was launched, it was discovered that the call had been made from Air India's commercial department at the airport. "The person is yet to be identified. Voice samples of personnel present at the airport are being scrutinised," said an Air India official.
08/03/11 Surender Sharma/MiD DAY
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