Hoax bomb threat delays Air India flight at Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport

Security personnel at the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport here went into a tizzy today after receiving a phone call threatening to blow up an Air India flight.

The Guwahati-bound flight from the city was delayed by around two hours following a unanimous call saying a bomb has been planted in the plane, airport officials said.

The AI-729 flight from Kolkata to Guwahati with 114 passengers on board was scheduled to fly from the Airport at 9.50 am.

However, shortly before that, a phone call came to the airport duty manager's desk and a female voice informed him that a bomb has been planted in that flight, the officials said.

The plane was immediately taken to the isolation bay and passengers were offloaded.

Security and bomb squad personnel checked the plane but nothing was found, the officials said. The plane finally took off at 11.45 pm, delayed by an hour and 55 minutes.

This is the second hoax call to the airport this month. Three phone calls had been made threatening to blow up the airport on 7 September.

Two days later, another anonymous call was made to the state secretariat, 'Nabanna', threatening to blow it up.

--PTI