A “BOMB IN CARGO” message, written with lipstick on the washroom mirror, forced an Istanbul-bound Turkish Airlines flight to make an emergency landing at Delhi Indira Gandhi International Airport on Tuesday.
However, no explosive was found on the plane. As soon as the Bangkok-Istanbul flight TK-O65, carrying 134 passengers and 13 crew members, landed in Delhi at 1:34 pm, bomb experts took over and searched the plane for over two hours before security agencies cleared its take-off late on Tuesday night. Indian authorities, however, claimed there were 157 fliers on board.
“Nothing was found,” Civil Aviation Secretary R N Choubey told reporters in the presence of Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju. The searches, however, yielded the lipstick apparently used to write the message. The mid-air drama started early afternoon when the plane was in Indian airspace near Nagpur. A member of the crew noticed the writing on the mirror, and the pilot was immediately informed.
The pilot contacted Nagpur Air Traffic Controller (ATC), who asked him to head to Delhi. “The Delhi airport has the capabilities to handle such situations,” said Raju, while an official said smaller airports like Nagpur would not be able to handle such situations.
As the plane headed to Delhi, security agencies were put on alert and bomb disposal squads were summoned. Elite National Security Guards personnel were put on standby with their dog squad.
Soon after its landing, the plane was towed away to an isolated area in the airport where passengers and crew were evacuated.