Bomb Threat on Akasa Flight at Gorakhpur Airport - No Explosives Found

Gorakhpur (UP), Oct 24 (PTI) A bomb threat was reported on an Akasa Air flight that landed at Gorakhpur Airport on Thursday, causing a brief panic and intensive searches that found the warning to be false, officials said.

The bomb threat was received at 14:12 pm from Akasa Air, shortly before flight QPP 1880 from Bengaluru landed in Gorakhpur, airport officials said.

Security teams immediately carried out an extensive inspection of the aircraft and passengers, but no bomb or suspicious items were found, Airport Director R K Parasher said.

The incident caused a 30-minute delay for an Indigo flight 6319 to Hyderabad. Additionally, the Akasa flight, which was scheduled to depart for Delhi, was delayed by around four hours, he said.

Despite the disruption, all other flights operated as per schedule, he added.

The latest episode comes in a series of such hoax warnings across the country, including Uttar Pradesh, leaving civil aviation stakeholders alarmed.

On Wednesday, the Kanpur Police lodged an FIR over a complaint by the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), guarding the city's airport in the Chakeri area, in which it stated receiving two threatening emails.

The two threat messages were received on the CISF's official email address on October 4 and October 6, said K S Rathod, assistant commandant CISF, Chakeri airport.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (East) Shrawan Kumar Singh told PTI that based on an application by the CISF, Chakeri Police has registered an FIR and initiated a probe.