Emirates flight grounded in Mumbai after terror alert call
February 07, 2010 14:07 IST
http://news.rediff.com/report/2010/feb/07/emirates-flight-grounded-over-terror-alert.htm
A Dubai-bound Emirates flight with 356 passengers, including crew, on board was grounded in Mumbai after a terror alert call, an airport official said.
The flight EK 505 was grounded after an anonymous call was received saying that there were some suspected terrorists on board the plane, a Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) spokesperson said. The aircraft had pushed back for takeoff at 0959 hrs when the Air Traffic Control (ATC) informed MIAL about a security hazard on board, the spokesperson said.
The plane was taxied to a parking bay at 1047 hrs. All the passengers were deplaned and a thorough check of the passengers and the luggage was carried out by the securityagencies. One or two passengers have been held back and they were being questioned by the security agencies, the spokesperson added.
According to police, the caller, who identified himself as Suresh Chavan, claimed one of the passengers on board by name Shahbaz Khan was an ‘Al Qaeda’ operative. “The caller identified himself as Suresh Chavan. He had called the cargo supervisor of the Emirates flight claiming that he overheard someone saying Shahbaz was a terrorist,” the police said.
I bet they are scuttling to check things out ASAP. Still, I sure would not want to be on that bird right now.