Chennai airport on high alert after Spicejet flights get hoax bomb threats
The email claimed that bombs had been planted on five SpiceJet flights that were scheduled to fly out from Chennai to Andaman, Delhi, Mumbai, Goa, and Pune.
CHENNAI: Chennai International Airport was thrown into chaos after a bomb threat email was sent to the SpiceJet regional manager's office on Sunday afternoon.
The email claimed that bombs had been planted on five SpiceJet flights that were scheduled to fly out from Chennai to Andaman, Delhi, Mumbai, Goa, and Pune.
However, as SpiceJet operates only one flight from Chennai to Andaman, authorities swiftly grounded the flight scheduled to depart at 3 pm and conducted a thorough search of the aircraft.
Bomb disposal experts and sniffer dogs scoured the aircraft, but as no explosives were found, authorities declared the threat to be a hoax.
The Chennai Airport police have registered a case and are investigating the incident.
The SpiceJet flight to Andaman, which was delayed, eventually took off at 4:20 pm with 99 passengers on board.
The city airport witnessed significant disruption due to the hoax threat, triggering panic among passengers and airport staff.
Authorities are on high alert, and are working to identify the perpetrators behind the hoax email.
"This was a clear case of a malicious prank," said a senior airport official. "We will take strict action against those responsible."