Chennai, Oct 20 (IANS): The Chennai airport police on Sunday commenced a probe after registering a case following a hoax bomb call in SpiceJet aircraft bound for Andaman and Nicobar Islands, officials said.

Police have started an investigation after the mail was received at the SpiceJet office that bombs were planted in the air carrier's flights bound for Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Mumbai, Goa, Delhi, and Pune.

However, SpiceJet operates only one flight to Andaman and Nicobar Islands and police conducted a thorough search of the aircraft.

Bomb disposal squads and sniffer dogs were pressed into service and after a detailed search, it was found that it was a false threat by pranksters.

The flight to Andaman and Nicobar Islands scheduled to depart at 3 p.m. left Chennai airport after 4:30 p.m. with 99 passengers on board.

Chennai airport authorities told media persons that passengers panicked on hearing about the threat and said that the police have registered a case and a thorough probe regarding it.

The officials said that this was a clear case of pranksters creating fear psychosis among the passengers.

As many as 20 flights across the country received hoax calls on Sunday including IndiGo, Akasa Air, and Vistara flights.

The menace of hoax calls to airlines continued on October 20 with more than 20 flights of IndiGo, Akasa Air, and Vistara flights receiving fresh bomb threats.

IndiGo released a series of press statements sharing details of the bomb threat received by the flights.