A mid-air bomb threat on a foreign airliner with 193 passenger and crew on board, forced the aircraft to make an emergency landing at the Mumbai international airport on Saturday afternoon. Oman Air flight Kl 823 from Muscat to Kuala Lumpur was in Mumbai airspace when the airline’s office at Muscat informed the pilots about the likelihood of a bomb on board.
“The airline office received a call about a suspected bomb on board flight Kl 823. Using the radio frequency device the office established contact with the pilots and alerted them,” security officials at Mumbai airport told Mirror.
The pilots of the non-stop flight then contacted Mumbai Air Traffic Control and requested an emergency landing. “Before clearing the flight for landing all emergency services were alerted at the airport. The aircraft landed at 13.47 pm and was taken to an isolated bay,” ATC officials told this newspaper.
After the passengers and crew had alighted, a dog squad was pressed into service and all luggage was sent for screening. However, no explosive was found. Security officials said that one more round of screening of baggage and passengers would be conducted and the aircraft searched again before granting it clearance for departure later on Saturday night. No official statement from Oman Air was received at the time of going to press.
