Flight makes emergency landing after 'drunk' woman threatens to blow it up

The flight was given clearance after a thorough search by security personnel of the Indian woman

KOLKATA: In a rather rare incident, a 25-year-old woman from India cited the presence of an explosive device on her body on a Mumbai-bound flight, forcing it to return to Kolkata.

According to Gulf News, the AirAsia flight I5316 was forced to make an emergency landing after passenger Mohini Mondal threatened the cabin crew that she had a device tied to her body that could explode any moment.

Inebriated Mondal's message was conveyed to flight captain John Lewis, and later passed on to the Air Traffic Control (ATC).

A full emergency alert was announced at the NSCBI Airport on Saturday at 11.01 pm after the pilot sought ATC's permission to return.

Man sends bomb threat to airport to stop friend's flight to Canada

As per standard operating protocol (SOP), an extensive search operation was launched and a bomb threat assessment committee was formed.

The plane was parked at the isolation bay at 11.46 pm.

Mondal was off-loaded around 12am and taken into custody by the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).

"No bomb or explosive was found on her," said an airport official. "One of the explanations for the way she behaved could be that she was drunk," he added.

The flight had 120 passengers on board and was given flight clearance after a thorough search by security personnel and bomb experts.

Police arrest man for issuing fake bomb threat at SHC

Earlier in September 2019, a similar incident had taken place in India when a 24-year-old man had sent a bomb threat to an airport because he was envious of his friend moving to Canada.

According to media reports, the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Telangana’s capital city Hyderabad had received an email from an anonymous individual claiming to blast the airport.

Katraju Shahshikanth, the accused's threatening email landed him in legal soup after the cyber police tracked him down.