DELHI GOT a hijack scare on
Sunday evening after an Indigo
flight with suspected hijackers
on board made an emergency
landing at the city’s Indira
Gandhi International Airport.
Flight operations at the airport came to a standstill after
the pilot of Indigo’s Delhi-Goa
flight (6E 334) informed air traffic control at 5.15 pm that there
were suspected hijackers on
board. This sent the country’s
security establishment into a
tizzy The flight made a priori .
ty landing at 5.29 pm and was
taken to an isolated bay where
,
a team of NSG and Central
Industrial Security Force personnel surrounded the aircraft
and cordoned off the area.
The 169 passengers and crew
on board the Airbus A-320 aircraft were not allowed to disembark for over two hours. A
meeting of the Committee of
Secretaries on Anti–Hijacking
(COSAH) chaired by the
Cabinet Secretary was immediately called.
Passengers could finally disembark around 8 pm after it
was decided in the meeting that
it was safe to allow this with
precautions in place.
The crisis blew over late in
the evening after the airline confirmed that the flight made a
priority landing owing to
unruly behaviour of some passengers on board. “ the pas All
sengers on the flight are safe,”
Aditya Ghosh, President, Indigo
Airlines said.
According to some passengers of the flight, a group of
allegedly inebriated men had
been creating a ruckus as soon
the flight took off from Goa at
around 4 pm. “They were drunk
and were falling over each other
and disturbing other passengers,” said Vishambhar Botiya,
a passenger.
Sources said that one of the
three men, Jitendra Mola, had
been passing lewd remarks at
the airhostesses. After the pilot
intervened, Mola allegedly
threatened to hijack the plane.
The pilot then informed the
ATC that he needed to make a
priority landing as some passengers were threatening to
hijack the plane.
The three men were detained
for questioning by the National
Security Guards. A police complaint has been lodged by one
of the cabin crew against two
passengers, Hardeep Anand
and Sandeep Uppal.
letters@hindustantimes.com
DELHI GOT a hijack scare on
Sunday evening after an Indigo
flight with suspected hijackers
on board made an emergency
landing at the city’s Indira
Gandhi International Airport.
Flight operations at the air-
port came to a standstill after
the pilot of Indigo’s Delhi-Goa
flight (6E 334) informed air traf-
fic control at 5.15 pm that there
were suspected hijackers on
board. This sent the country’s
security establishment into a
tizzy The flight made a priori-
.
ty landing at 5.29 pm and was
taken to an isolated bay where
,
a team of NSG and Central
Industrial Security Force per-
sonnel surrounded the aircraft
and cordoned off the area.
The 169 passengers and crew
on board the Airbus A-320 air-
craft were not allowed to dis-
embark for over two hours. A
meeting of the Committee of
Secretaries on Anti–Hijacking
(COSAH) chaired by the
Cabinet Secretary was imme-
diately called.
Passengers could finally dis-
embark around 8 pm after it
was decided in the meeting that
it was safe to allow this with
precautions in place.
The crisis blew over late in
the evening after the airline con-
firmed that the flight made a
priority landing owing to
unruly behaviour of some pas-
sengers on board. “ the pas-
All
sengers on the flight are safe,”
Aditya Ghosh, President, Indigo
Airlines said.
According to some passen-
gers of the flight, a group of
allegedly inebriated men had
been creating a ruckus as soon
the flight took off from Goa at
around 4 pm. “They were drunk
and were falling over each other
and disturbing other passen-
gers,” said Vishambhar Botiya,
a passenger.
Sources said that one of the
three men, Jitendra Mola, had
been passing lewd remarks at
the airhostesses. After the pilot
intervened, Mola allegedly
threatened to hijack the plane.
The pilot then informed the
ATC that he needed to make a
priority landing as some pas-
sengers were threatening to
hijack the plane.
The three men were detained
for questioning by the National
Security Guards. A police com-
plaint has been lodged by one
of the cabin crew against two
passengers, Hardeep Anand
and Sandeep Uppal.
letters@hindustantimes.com