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Bangalore, Jul 22: Tension prevailed for a few moments at the Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) as a Delhi-bound Jet Airways flight with the Chief Ministers of Karnataka and Chhattisgarh on board was delayed, following a bomb threat, allegedly by Gurushant, a native of Gulbarga.
The threat was later established to be a hoax. Jet Airways Flight 9W 816, which was to depart to New Delhi at 4 pm, was asked to abandon its take-off even as the aircraft was on the runway. This happened after airport authorities at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad received the call, stating that a bomb had been planted on an aircraft bound to New Delhi from Bangalore, scheduled to take off between 4 to 4.30 pm.
At the time, the Jet Airways flight carrying the two chief ministers was the only one flying to New Delhi from the Bengaluru International Airport. Sources at the BIA told Express that the terminal manager at the Hyderabad airport immediately alerted BIA authorities.
Security personnel swung into action at the Bengaluru International Airport, laying seige to the Jet Airways aircraft, asking all the 80 passengers, including the two chief ministers on board, to disembark.
"After a thorough screening of the aircraft and other aircraft which were to take off between 4 to 4.30 pm, the call was found to be a hoax,'' said Bengaluru International AirportA officials. Meanwhile, Chief Ministers BS Yeddyurappa and Raman Singh, along with the other passengers, were accommodated in a Kingfisher flight IT-206 to Delhi at 5.40 pm. They landed safely at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi at 8.30 pm.
Yeddyurappa was scheduled to host a dinner for the Karnataka MPs in New Delhi. The Jet Airways flight, after thorough screening, departed for New Delhi after a two-hour delay.
Air traffic officials said all flights were on schedule, barring a few which were thoroughly searched by the bomb and dog squads.
Passengers had a few anxious moments at the airport following the bomb threat and traffic jams were reported on NH-7. Monday's is the first case of a bomb hoax at the BIA, which turned operational on May 24.