Saptarshi Banerjee
Hindustan Times
A Moscow-Singapore flight landed in Dumdum airport a few minutes after midnight on Sunday forced by a mid-flight bomb scare. The emergency sent the entire airport in a tizzy with all senior officials rushing to the airport to handle the crisis. According to airport sources, there were 265 passengers and crew on board the flight SQ2345.
A bomb squad was rushed to the airport immediately as the flight landed and taken to an isolation bay.
Airport sources said Central Industrial Security Force personnel surrounded the aircraft as soon as it landed. Fire engines and ambulances were kept to deal with any emergency and help any passenger who may fall ill due to stress.
The pilot had reportedly informed the New Delhi airport about the scare, but was denied permission because of the heightened security due to the Commonwealth Games that was inaugurated on Sunday evening. Permission was then granted to land in Kolkata.
According to airport sources, the initial alert came around 11 pm when the flight was in mid-air. However, it couldn’t be confirmed what was the distance of the flight from Kolkata when the call for help came in.
The Singapore Airline flight was heading from Moscow to Singapore.
As the aircraft had a bomb scare, it was taken to an isolation bay after it landed.
Close to midnight senior officials of the airport including the director confirmed that there was emergency at hand but couldn’t provide details as they spent every moment preparing to handle the fast developing situation.
Airport sources couldn’t recall whether Dumdum airport ever witnessed any incident of an international flight being forced to land by an on-board bomb scare.