Hours after a Turkish Airlines plane with 148 onboard made an emergency landing at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI) in the national capital following a bomb threat, the government has said that no bomb was found on the aircraft.
The Union Civil Aviation Ministry said that no explosive was found during "routine check" as per the "protocol", adding that the flight, TK-65, would take off in the next few hours.
Addressing a press conference, Union Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju said that all the baggage were checked and nothing suspicious was found, suggesting that the bomb scare was probably a hoax.
Aviation Secretary Rajeev Nayan Choubey said that while the plane was in the Indian airspace, a message – Bomb in CGR – was found to be written on a mirror. Following this, the flight contacted Indian authorities and was allowed to land at IGI Airport in the national capital.
After the flight landed in Delhi, Indian authorities contacted Turkey officials and got the go-ahead for question everyone on board.
Earlier, sources had said that the emergency landing was made after crew saw the message on a toilet mirror, written using a lipstick.
Emergency was declared at the airport following the landing of the aircraft and all security agencies including National Security Guards were put on high alert.
While fire tenders were rushed to the runway, bomb disposal squad of the NSG and dog squad were also called in promptly. A high level meeting was also convened by the government to take stock of the situation.
The flight was taken to an isolated bay at the IGI Airport where the search operation was conducted.
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