Hoax Bomb Threat On Dubai-Bound Chennai Flight Delays It By 12 Hours

The departure of a Dubai-bound flight from Chennai International Airport was delayed today following a hoax bomb threat. An email warning about a bomb on the aircraft delayed the Emirates flight EK 543 by more than 12 hours, causing inconvenience to the passengers.

Upon receiving the threat email, the authorities offloaded the entire baggage on the tarmac for a thorough check of the flight. The inspection revealed that the threat was a hoax.

The flight with more than 250 international passengers was scheduled to take off at around 4 am Tuesday but was rescheduled at 10.30 am due to heavy rains in the city. The flight is now expected to depart past midnight and the airline shifted passengers to a nearby hotel.

The information about the email was received just before passengers boarded. Photographs show the baggage of passengers lying on the tarmac as the bomb squad conducted a thorough inspection.

The email is suspected to have come from Istanbul, Turkey.

"An investigation into the matter is underway. Although bomb threat e-mails have become so frequent, we did not want to take any chance as the mail specifically mentioned incoming flight EK 542 in this case",  C V Deepak, Airport Director told NDTV.

Sources in the Airport Authority of India say airports have been instructed to be on high alert amid a spike in email threats.