Amid a rise in hoax bomb threats made to flights, an Indian Airline flight travelling from Kathmandu to New Delhi received a fresh threat on Saturday (Nov 2).
“We have received a bomb threat on an Indian Airlines flight that was bound for New Delhi from Kathmandu,” Dambar Bahadur BK, chief of police at the airport told Indian news agency ANI.
The search operation is underway with the help of Nepal police and army, he said.
On Monday (Oct 28), Nepal received a hoax bomb threat call on an Air India flight AI 216 that was about to return to New Delhi.
This marks the second hoax call received by Nepal’s Tribhuvan International Airport in a week.
Following the threat call, the Air India flight prompted authorities to activate the emergency protocol as the flight landed at 2:41 pm (Nepal Standard Time) at the airport.
Watch | India Investigates Hoax Airline Bomb Threats
“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.
After four hours of searching, it was proved that it was a hoax call as no suspicious objects were found.
“According to protocol, no dangerous objects were found during the security checks, and the situation at the airport is currently normal. It is a second hoax call within a week,” Information officer at the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, Gyanendra Bhul, confirmed to the news agency over the phone.
Over the past few weeks, more than 400 Indian flights, including Air India, Vistara and Air Akasa have received bomb threats.
Following these recurrent incidents, India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has asked social media platforms to observe due diligence obligations and promptly disable access to misinformation within the strict timelines prescribed under the country’s IT rules.
(With inputs from agencies)