New Delhi: A Turkish Airlines flight, with 148 people on board, has made an emergency landing at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi.
According to reports, the flight, which was plying between Bangkok and Istanbul, received a bomb threat.
All passengers on board the have been evacuated safely following the threat.
Sources have stated that a message written on the bathroom mirror of the plane warned about the bomb in the luggage compartment.
When contacted, the Nagpur Air Traffic Controller guided the flight to Delhi.
Security agencies are currently sweeping the aircraft for the suspected bombs.
According to reports, the flight has been taken to an isolated bay at the IGI airport. Addressing a press conference, Aviation Secretary RN Choubey informed that the bomb threat turned out to be hoax as no explosive was found on the plane.
Choubey further said that the Turkish Airlines flight TK0065 has now been cleared for take-off and will fly out of India soon.
“134 passengers and 13 crew members were offloaded. The Turkish aircraft was searched. Nothing suspicious was found,” the Aviation Secretary said.
“In the next few hours the plane will be allowed to take off,” he added.
Previous reports had said that there were 148 passengers on the plane.
Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju said the plane was still in the isolation bay and that routine checks were underway.
“This Turkish airline was overflying India on its way from Bangkok to Istanbul. The crew noticed something scribbled on mirror. They wanted an emergency landing and it was done. The plane is in an isolated bay, and routine checks are going on,” the minister said.
Turkish Airlines senior vice president (Media Relations) Ali Gence had earlier said that flight TK0065 from Bangkok to Istanbul was diverted to Delhi "following a possible bomb threat on board" and "successfully landed" there. All passengers and cabin crew were evacuated safely.
What happened on the Turkish Airlines flight
Turkish Airlines flight TK0065 with 134 passengers and crew onboard was overflying through Indian airspace near Nagpur when the crew saw a message on the toilet mirror that read 'bomb in cargo hold'.
The pilot was informed and he immediately got in touch with Nagpur Air Traffic Control. The Nagpur ATC guided the pilots to the Delhi ATC, probably because the airport at the national capital was better prepared to deal with such emergencies.
As soon as the message was flashed at the Delhi airport, the entire security apparatus went on high alert even as the Delhi ATC gave the Turkish Airlines' Airbus A-330, bearing registration number TC-JNI, permission to land on a priority basis.
When it landed in Delhi at 1.41 pm IST, the plane was taken to an isolation bay near the Dwarka end of the airport and the passengers were deboarded.
Security agencies like the CISF and NSG took control of the plane, conducted a thorough check and sanitised the plane.
Who wrote the message?
Reports said that the message on the toilet mirror was written using a lip-balm. And, given the real possibility that the person who wrote the message was among the passengers or crew, Indian sleuths questioned everyone.
It is not clear yet whether the person who wrote the message has been identified and the lip-balm recovered.
The Turkish Airlines flight had departed from Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok at 10.20 am local time and was scheduled to land at Istanbul at 5.15 pm Turkish time.
Playback data on air traffic tracker website flightradar.com suggested that the plane deviated from the flight path and entered the airspace over mainland India; first over Odisha and then took a zig-zag path over Madhya Pradesh before heading towards Delhi.
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