A Chennai-Mumbai flight was forced to make an emergency landing at the Mumbai airport. An IndiGo flight with 172 passengers on board reportedly received a bomb threat leading to the “full emergency” landing of the flight. The incident occurred on Saturday, June 1, PTI reported.
According to the report, the flight landed around 8:45 a.m. and the evacuation of passengers was completed using the step ladder.
Confirming the alleged bomb threat on its Chennai-Mumbai flight, IndiGo said in a statement that the crew and the plane followed all necessary protocols and were taken to an isolation bay as per the guidelines of the airport security agencies.
A full emergency was declared for Chennai-Mumbai IndiGo flight 6E5314 on Saturday after a pilot reported a suspected bomb threat to Mumbai Air Traffic Control (ATC).
This is not the first time in the last week that an IndiGo flight has been threatened. The latest incident occurred on May 28, when an IndiGo flight 6E2211, operating from Delhi to Varanasi, received an alleged bomb threat at the Delhi airport. The Chennai-Mumbai flight was the second incident in a week in which a bomb threat was received. “All passengers were evacuated safely through emergency exits,” said a statement issued by IndiGo amid the Varanasi-Delhi flight incident.
IndiGo is not the only airline that has received such bomb threats in the recent past. A Vistara flight operating from Delhi to Srinagar received a bomb threat on Friday. The flight landed safely at the Srinagar airport and all 177 passengers on board were safely evacuated, it was reported.
“Passengers on IndiGo flight 6E5314 have been safely evacuated and the aircraft is currently under inspection,” the airline said in a statement.
The statement added: “Once all security checks are completed, the aircraft will be placed back in the terminal area.”
When the four cabin crew were seen leaving the plane, the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGAC) immediately suspended them as they were seen carrying luggage with them. The reason is violation of the rules during evacuation, according to international standards, passengers and crew are not allowed to carry their luggage at the time of evacuation as it may increase the evacuation time.