Panic gripped the Amritsar international airport on Thursday after a SpiceJet flight from Dubai landed with an “unaccompanied piece of baggage” at an isolated parking stand and an Indonesian woman, wh
Panic gripped the Amritsar international airport on Thursday after a SpiceJet flight from Dubai landed with an “unaccompanied piece of baggage” at an isolated parking stand and an Indonesian woman, who owned the baggage, did not board the flight despite “clearing immigration, security check and boarding” at Dubai.
SpiceJet expressed regret over the “false alarm due to the miscommunication (that) caused inconvenience to the passengers”.
But the incident has raised questions on why the SpiceJet staff at Dubai airport failed to detect that a passenger who had cleared immigration, security check and boarding had not physically boarded the aircraft despite her luggage having been loaded on to the aircraft. An inquiry is likely to be ordered into the matter by aviation authorities.
In a statement, SpiceJet said, “On July 21, 2016, a passenger, Ms Idinirinkarlina Btnanang (holding Indonesian passport), travelling on SG 056 (flight from) Dubai to Amritsar, did not board the aircraft after clearing immigration, security check and boarding. She reported back (at Dubai) after one hour of the flight departure. Dubai airport officials informed the pilot-in-command about the unaccompanied checked in baggage on board and the pilot-in-command requested the Amritsar ATC officials for isolated parking stand. The baggage of Ms Idinirinkarlina Btnanang has been identified and will be handed over to her/relevant authorities. The false alarm due to the miscommunication caused inconvenience to the passengers which is deeply regretted.”
According to agencies, the incident forced authorities at Amritsar airport to take all anti-bomb threat measures, including deploying the bomb detection and disposal squad, to deal with any situation.
The baggage of the missing Indonesian passenger was found unclaimed soon after all the passengers who had boarded the aircraft at Dubai claimed their baggage at Amritsar airport from the conveyor belt.
Security personnel also reportedly carried out an extensive search of all other baggage of the passengers arriving by the flight. But “nothing” suspicious was found in the unclaimed baggage, officials said.
