Kathmandu: A bomb threat was received on an Air India flight that was bound for New Delhi from Kathmandu on Saturday, officials from the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal said.
The flight- AI 215 that arrived from New Delhi to Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport on Saturday afternoon received the threats, as per Police official Dambar Bahadur BK.
According to CAAN officials, a search is underway in the Indian airlines flight that was scheduled to take off for Delhi from Kathmandu.
“We have received a bomb threat on an Indian Airlines flight that was bound for New Delhi from Kathmandu. Search operation deploying the Nepal Police and the Army is underway,” Dambar Bahadur BK, Chief of Police at the airport confirmed ANI.
The flight had landed Nepali capital at 3:39pm (NPT) on Saturday with 168 passengers on board. Within an hour of arrival in Kathmandu, the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) received the threats activating the security protocol.
“The luggage of the passengers was already loaded into the aircraft and the passengers also have boarded the aircraft. All the items on board has been unloaded as well as passengers are also being checked after the threat which has delayed the flight,” the police official further added.
Earlier on Monday, Nepal received a bomb hoax call on an Air India flight AI 216 that was set to return to New Delhi on Monday. It was the second hoax call that Nepal’s Tribhuvan International Airport has received within a week, officials confirmed.
The Air India flight which landed at 2:41 pm (Nepal Standard Time) on Monday afternoon at Tribhuvan International Airport received a bomb threat prompting authorities to activate the emergency protocol.
“We didn’t find any suspicious or explosives on board the plane. It is preparing to take flight following the procedures,” Kiran Bajracharya, AIG at Valley Police Office, Ranipokhari, confirmed to ANI over the phone.
Nepal Army bomb squad along with the Nepal Police Canine division acted quickly to trace the possible explosive on board the plane at an isolated area of the airport, as per the officials.
Over four hours of search proved the warning was a hoax call as no suspicious objects were found.
“According to protocol, no dangerous objects were found during the security checks, the situation at the airport is currently normal. It is a second hoax call within a week,” Information officer at Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, Gyanendra Bhul confirmed to ANI over phone.
Nepal Army information officer Brigadier General Gaurav Kumar KC also reported that no suspicious objects were found during the search. “The disposal team did not find any suspicious objects in the initial search, and we have concluded the search,” he said.
Last week, there was a bomb scare on a Vistara Airways flight from Delhi, but no suspicious object was found. Recently, repeated false threats on Indian flights have caused fear among passengers.
