Nagpur airport gets bomb threat email; nothing suspicious found after search

Representational Image

The officials said that the Nagpur airport was on Monday thoroughly searched by security personnel after authorities received a bomb threat via an email, but nothing suspicious was discovered in the premises, reported news agency PTI.

This was the third bomb threat message received at the Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport since April.

When contacted, a senior Nagpur airport official told PTI that the Airports Authority of India (AAI) received an email about a pipe bomb being planted in the aerodrome's toilet.

Content of the email was communicated to Nagpur airport authorities in the morning. Security personnel thoroughly checked the airport complex, but did not discover any suspicious items, he told PTI.

Security has been stepped up at the airport.

On June 18, Nagpur was among more than 40 cities whose airports had received hoax bomb threat emails. The Nagpur airport had got a similar bomb threat in April too, which turned out to be a hoax.

Last week, Delhi, Jaipur, Vadodara, Chennai and Patna airports received hoax bomb threats via email. Additionally, in Jaipur a private college too received a hoax threat email.

Forty-one airports, including in Varanasi, Chennai, Patna and Jaipur, received bomb threat emails on Tuesday, prompting authorities to scramble contingency measures and carry out anti-sabotage checks that lasted hours, and each of them was found to be a hoax, official sources told PTI.

Security was beefed up as agencies swept the airport terminals after the emails were received around 12.40 pm, reported PTI.

The airports in Varanasi, Chennai, Patna, Nagpur, Jaipur, Vadodara, Coimbatore and Jabalpur were among those that received the hoax threats.

Meanwhile, a Mumbai-bound IndiGo flight from Chennai received a bomb threat message on Tuesday, but it landed safely in Mumbai, an airport source told PTI.

The bomb threat message was received at the private airline's call centre in New Delhi, the source told PTI.

The flight landed safely at the Mumbai airport at 10.30 pm, he said.

"IndiGo flight 6E 5149, operating from Chennai to Mumbai, had received a bomb threat. Upon landing in Mumbai, the crew followed protocol and the aircraft was taken to an isolation bay," the airline said in a statement, reported PTI.

All passengers have safely disembarked the aircraft, IndiGo said.

"We are working with security agencies and post completion of all security checks, the aircraft will be positioned back in the terminal area," it added, reported PTI.

(With inputs from PTI)