Flier forgets to board, her bag sparks a bomb scare
Mumbai Mirror Bureau
Indonesian tourist bound for Amritsar misses boarding her SpiceJet flight at Dubai, triggering panic among airport authorities in the 2 cities while the plane was airborne.
An Indonesian tourist headed to India from Dubai sparked a bomb fright after missing the boarding of her SpiceJet flight at Dubai, sparking grave concern as her baggage was aboard but she wasn’t. Nobody noticed her absence until over an hour after take-off, when she reappeared, prompting the national aviation watchdog to investigate the matter.
Flight SG-56, headed for Amritsar, was midair when the pilot was alerted, and he immediately sent out an SOS to the Amritsar air traffic control, which prepared for a potential crisis.
As soon as the plane landed at its destination — the Guru Ram Das Jee International Airport — at 11.10 am the same morning, it was taken off the runway and parked in an isolation bay, where the fliers were deboarded. “The passengers were offloaded at the Amritsar airport on Thursday morning following the recovery of a suspicious bag on the flight,” airport sources said.
A bomb disposal squad of Amritsar police scoured the craft in a thorough search operation but came up emptyhanded. “Flight operations at the airport were suspended following the incident,” airport director Venkateshwara Rao said.
The confusion arose as none of the passengers on the plane claimed the bag, Rao added.
The bag’s owner, Btnanang, was headed for Mumbai, and Amritsar was her point of entry into the country.
Following the incident, SpiceJet released a statement, saying, “Idinirinkarlina Btnanang, holding an Indonesian passport, travelling on SG 056, Dubai to Amritsar, did not board the aircraft after clearing immigration, security check and boarding. She reported back an hour after the flight’s departure. Dubai airport officials informed the pilotin-command about the unaccompanied checked-in baggage on board and the pilot requested the Amritsar ATC officials for isolated parking stand. The false alarm due to the miscommunication caused inconvenience to the passengers is deeply regretted.”
The Directorate General of Civil aviation has ordered a probe into the incident to ascertain why the passenger missed boarding though she had cleared the immigration and security checks at Dubai.
Indonesian tourist bound for Amritsar misses boarding her SpiceJet flight at Dubai, triggering panic among airport authorities in the 2 cities while the plane was airborne.
An Indonesian tourist headed to India from Dubai sparked a bomb fright after missing the boarding of her SpiceJet flight at Dubai, sparking grave concern as her baggage was aboard but she wasn’t. Nobody noticed her absence until over an hour after take-off, when she reappeared, prompting the national aviation watchdog to investigate the matter.
After the aircraft departed from Dubai when it was 6.30 am on Thursday here, the airport authorities started when they discovered that flier Idinirinkarlina Btnanang’s bags had been checked into the plane’s cargo, but she wasn’t on board.
Flight SG-56, headed for Amritsar, was midair when the pilot was alerted, and he immediately sent out an SOS to the Amritsar air traffic control, which prepared for a potential crisis.
As soon as the plane landed at its destination — the Guru Ram Das Jee International Airport — at 11.10 am the same morning, it was taken off the runway and parked in an isolation bay, where the fliers were deboarded. “The passengers were offloaded at the Amritsar airport on Thursday morning following the recovery of a suspicious bag on the flight,” airport sources said.
A bomb disposal squad of Amritsar police scoured the craft in a thorough search operation but came up emptyhanded. “Flight operations at the airport were suspended following the incident,” airport director Venkateshwara Rao said.
The confusion arose as none of the passengers on the plane claimed the bag, Rao added.
The bag’s owner, Btnanang, was headed for Mumbai, and Amritsar was her point of entry into the country.
Following the incident, SpiceJet released a statement, saying, “Idinirinkarlina Btnanang, holding an Indonesian passport, travelling on SG 056, Dubai to Amritsar, did not board the aircraft after clearing immigration, security check and boarding. She reported back an hour after the flight’s departure. Dubai airport officials informed the pilotin-command about the unaccompanied checked-in baggage on board and the pilot requested the Amritsar ATC officials for isolated parking stand. The false alarm due to the miscommunication caused inconvenience to the passengers is deeply regretted.”
The Directorate General of Civil aviation has ordered a probe into the incident to ascertain why the passenger missed boarding though she had cleared the immigration and security checks at Dubai.
