New Delhi: A Turkish Airlines flight made an emergency landing at Indira Gandhi International Airport following a bomb threat in the national capital on Tuesday. Flight TK-65 with 134 passengers was on its way from Bangkok to Istanbul.
Sources said the emergency landing was made after crew saw message on a toilet mirror which read 'bomb in cargo hold'. The threat message was written using a lipstick, said the sources.
The pilot then contacted Nagpur Air Traffic Controller who guided them to Delhi ATC.
No explosive has been found so far, said the sources.
According to the sources, all passengers and crew members will be interrogated by joint teams of intelligence and security agencies. All baggage especially handbags to be searched to match lipstick tone and colour with the threat message.
Joint interrogation teams of Intelligence Bureau and Research and Analysis Wing will interrogate all passengers as well as crew members. The Home Minister and Home Secretary are conducting a high level meeting at the Ministry of Home Affairs which is also being attended by the Director of IB.
The sources said the hijack angle is also being probed, said intelligence sources.
The sources added that security agencies are not ruling out that someone from plane has written it and was an attempt to hijack after creating panic in the plane.
The Turkish Airlines said, "Turkish Airlines Bangkok – Istanbul flight (TK065, A 330 Aircraft, carrying 134 passengers) has diverted to Delhi after a possible bomb threat. The plane has already landed in Delhi and all of our passengers and cabin crew have been safely evacuated and taken to the terminal building. Necessary safety checks are currently taking place. Furthermore, precautions have been taken for towing the aircraft out of its current place, and this is currently in progress."
All the passengers and crew members were evacuated and the plane is being thoroughly checked, said CISF sources.
Minister of State for Civil Aviation Mahesh Sharma said, "We are prepared and all the necessary arrangements have been made. All the passengers have been offloaded."
Emergency has been declared at the airport and all security agencies including National Security Guards are on high alert.
Fire tenders have been rushed to the runway. Bomb disposal squad of the NSG and dog squad are at the runway.
Senior officials of Central Industrial Security Force and NSG officials are holding a meeting.
The flight has been taken to the isolation bay at the IGI Airport. The NSG and CISF have cordoned off the plane.
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