A Jet Airways flight to Kuwait carrying 158 passengers and eight crew members was delayed by seven hours on Saturday night after one of the passengers noticed a threat message scribbled on a note insi
A Jet Airways flight to Kuwait carrying 158 passengers and eight crew members was delayed by seven hours on Saturday night after one of the passengers noticed a threat message scribbled on a note inside the aircraft.
The message was noticed by a passenger when the aircraft was taxiing, after which the cabin crew was alerted. The aircraft then had to return to the bay to get security clearance.
After the security clearance, the aircraft was able to take off only after seven hours on Sunday morning. A source from the Mumbai airport said the Jet Airways flight 9W 574 Mumbai to Kuwait was taxing on the main runway at about 10.15 pm on Saturday to take off. Minutes after taxiing, the pilot of the aircraft contacted the Air Traffic Control Center (ATC) of the airport and informed them that a bomb threat message had been found scribbled on a safety card. The ATC then asked them to the bay.
According to a senior security official at the Mumbai Airport, the message read, “There is a bomb under your seat, this will be the last flight.”
When the aircraft reached the bay, the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) was alerted. The CISF, along with officials of Mumbai airport limited, local police and bureau of civil aviation security created a team and as per the standard operating procedure (SOP), the bomb and dog squad was alerted.
All the passengers, meanwhile, were off loaded, and the aircraft, along with the passengers’ checked-in bags, were searched. No bomb or a suspicious object was found on board.
A senior ATC official said, “A passenger onboard the flight was reading the safety instruction booklet, when he found a message scribbled on it. The captain then decided to take the aircraft back to the bay. The CISF personnel and the Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad were then called in.”
The official spokesperson of Jet airways, who confirmed the incident, commented, “All 158 guests and eight crew disembarked without any incident and were taken to the airport terminal. After a thorough search by the security agencies the aircraft was cleared for its onward journey. The flight departed for Kuwait at 4.20 hours on November 29.”
Earlier, on November 27, a 20-year-old youth who had called at the Thane-based call center of Air India airlines and threatened a plane hijack was held in Madhya Pradesh.
Around 22 incidents of such hoax calls and messages have been reported, sending the security agencies into a tizzy. This year on January 7 and 16 threat messages were found scribbled in the toilets of the Airport terminal.
Psychiatrist Dr. Yusuf Machiswalla, commenting on such callers, said, “A person with an irrational mind gets thrilled by irritating or troubling people and performs such acts. The have a cheap and disturbed mindset which requires proper treatment. For them, legal action is not sufficient, as they enjoy seeing people troubled.”
