Bomb threat to Malaysian Airlines flight from Kuala Lumpur to Chennai turns out to be a hoax
The aircraft landed safely around 10.40 am, and bomb disposal squads along with sniffer dogs conducted an extensive search. After thorough checks, officials confirmed that the bomb threat was a hoax.
Visuals from the spot
CHENNAI: Panic gripped Chennai airport on Sunday morning after an email warned that a Malaysian Airlines flight from Kuala Lumpur to Chennai carrying 137 people had explosives on board.
The aircraft landed safely around 10.40 am, and bomb disposal squads along with sniffer dogs conducted an extensive search. After thorough checks, officials confirmed that the bomb threat was a hoax.
The email, received around 9.30 am by the Chennai airport director’s office, claimed that powerful explosives had been planted on the arriving flight. Following standard security protocol, a high-level emergency meeting was convened involving airport security officials, the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), bomb disposal experts, and police forces.
Upon landing, all 129 passengers and 8 crew members were safely evacuated, and their baggage was examined. No suspicious objects or explosives were found.
Following the investigation, the same aircraft, originally scheduled to depart for Kuala Lumpur at 11.45 am took off around 12.40 pm, after an hour’s delay due to the security checks.
This incident came just a day after a similar hoax email claimed a bomb was on board a Singapore Airlines flight arriving from Singapore. Police suspect a coordinated attempt by miscreants to disrupt airport operations.
The Chennai airport police and the city’s cybercrime branch have registered a case and launched a probe to trace the culprits behind the back-to-back threats.