Bomb threat on Moscow-Goa flight a hoax

RAJKOT: After thorough checking by the National Security Guard (NSG) and other security agencies, the Moscow-Goa flight which had made an emergency landing at Jamnagar airport on Monday night following a bomb threat, took off on Tuesday afternoon after nearly 15 hours.
The aircraft, carrying 236 passengers and eight crew members, had made an emergency landing following a bomb threat which proved to be a hoax as nothing suspicious was found onboard, officials said.
According to the officials, the charter flight of Azur Air took off from Moscow for Goa with all Russian citizens on board. The airline received an email with bomb threat and informed the Goa ATC (air traffic controller). The Goa ATC diverted the flight to the nearest airport at Jamnagar. The aircraft landed at Jamnagar airport at 9.50pm.
The Jamnagar airport authority immediately informed the police, the district administration and all the authorities concerned. Ambulances from the private industries and government agencies, teams from the fire brigades and medical personnel from G G Hospital in Jamnagar were put on standby.
The passengers were shifted to the waiting area taking care that nobody gets panicked. According to sources they were informed about the threat only after deboarding. The NSG bomb disposal team that was flown in from Ahmedabad by the Indian Air Force (IAF), scanned the aircraft and personal baggage of passengers in coordination with BDS (bomb disposal squad) and Jamnagar police before clearing the flight to its final destination — Dabolim airport, Goa.
Jamnagar district collector Sourabh Pardhi said, “The flight clearance was given after a thorough search by all the security agencies. We have concluded that the threat was a hoax. The flight took off for Goa at 1.15 pm after completing all the formalities.”
The passengers spent the night at Jamnagar airport lounge which is a small airport. The canteen staff was called in the night while the airport authority and district administration arranged for food, water and other essentials from outside.
Anoop Gupta director of Jamnagar airport told TOI, “We provided all the necessary facilities, served water bottles, snacks, tea and coffee during the night and district administration also arranged for morning breakfast. They were taken care of till they boarded the flight again.”