An Air India Delhi-Kolkata flight was aborted here on Wednesday after a bomb threat call and all 228 passengers were evacuated, police said. Police said the call turned out to be a hoax.
The police said the incident was reported around 2.25 p.m. as the ‘Dreamliner’ flight was set to take off from the Indira Gandhi International Airport.
“An unknown person called the airline’s call centre in Mumbai to say a bomb had been planted on the flight. The passengers were offloaded to carry out the security drills,” Deputy Commissioner of Police Sanjay Bhatia said.
The aircraft was taken to a bay to be searched.
“Efforts are on to identify the caller. Prima facie, it appears to be a hoax call,” he added.
The passengers were later flown to Kolkata on another aircraft.