Another hoax call, another flight delayed in Mumbai

The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), grappling with hoax calls and alerts over unattended baggage on an almost daily basis at the Mumbai airport, was on its toes most of Thursday afternoon after receiving a call claiming that a bomb had been planted on a Lucknow-bound Kingfisher flight.

The flight — IT 3149 — was scheduled to depart at 4.45pm; it was delayed by more than five hours after the CISF got a call from a person identifying himself as Shoaib. It came 15 minutes before the flight’s departure. The plane, with 179 passengers, was still on the bay when the CISF asked the airline not to proceed.

“The caller said he was from Masjid Bunder and had overheard three people talking about keeping a bomb in the cargo-hold of the Kingfisher Mumbai-Lucknow flight. He disconnected without divulging more,” said Jitender Negi, senior commandant, CISF.  The call was traced to a PCO in Nerul, he added.

“Just before the departure of flight 3149, we received an alert from the CISF control room. The doors of the aircraft had not yet been shut and all 179 guests were deplaned. The aircraft was moved to a remote bay and checked by the authorities,” a Kingfisher airlines spokesperson said. He later said the flight had been cleared for take off by security. As a precautionary measure, all cargo was left behind, he added.