After getting the news of bomb alert in Vistara Airlines flight UK 18 coming from London to Delhi, panic spread among the passengers. However, the news turned out to be false, leading to panic among the passengers until a search was carried out. The passenger said- the whole journey was spent in fear.
The information about the bomb was received 3.30 hours before the flight reached Delhi on Wednesday. Someone wrote on tissue paper and stuck it in the toilet that there was a bomb on the flight. After the flight landed at the Delhi airport, the entire flight and passengers were searched.
A crew member removed the tissue paper and then each passenger's luggage was searched. However, no suspicious items were found in the luggage. There were 300 passengers and crew members on board this flight.
All passengers' luggage was searched after the flight landed at Delhi airport.
After the flight landed at the airport, people were not allowed to leave. People are waiting at the airstrip.
A crew member checked each passenger's luggage, but found nothing
- Rajeev Gautam told Bhaskar, a passenger, 'After the news of the bomb, the whole road passed in fear. The flight reached Delhi on time at 11.20 am, but was parked in a corner. After this security personnel surrounded the entire flight.'
- He said, 'Later, all the passengers were dropped one by one. Business class passengers disembarked first, then premium economy and finally economy passengers. A scanning van was called to check everyone's hand luggage. After checking all the baggage, the passengers were seated at Gate No. 4 near the departure gate. Here, all the passengers were provided snacks and water by the airline. No passengers or those on connecting flights were allowed to leave until the entire investigation was done.
A picture after the plane landed at Delhi airport.
Scanning of cabin baggage outside the flight
- Passengers' cabin luggage was also removed from the flight and checked. Passengers were told that passengers would be escorted back to the flight after all baggage was checked and their luggage would be identified. After this they will be escorted back inside the terminal.
- The security team also questioned the crew members and the pilot and co-pilot. He was asked that when you got information about the bomb 3.30 hours before landing, then why did you wait to reach Delhi after traveling so long? The flight can be checked by landing in the nearest country or city.
- It is said that the crew member-pilot explained that if the flight had been landed en route, the informant could have pressured him to hijack or fulfill any demands. Hence we reached Delhi directly instead of taking the flight somewhere else.
Investigation and interrogation continued for 3 hours After the flight landed at around 11.20 am, investigations and inquiries were underway. All the passengers were kept there till 2.30 pm. No one was informed what arrangements would be made for those traveling on connecting flights.
Image Credit: (Divya-Bhaskar): Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).
