'I'm carrying a live bomb'; bomb threat repeats at Nedumbassery airport

KOCHI: Another bomb threat at Nedumbassery airport. The Vistara flight from Nedumbassery was delayed by more than half an hour following a threat from a passenger that he was a human bomb. Vijay Mandhana, a resident of Maharashtra, who was on board the flight that was about to take off for Mumbai at 3.50 pm, threatened to be a human bomb. He was then forcibly examined by the CISF personnel but nothing was found. He was handed over to Nedumbassery police. The flight, which was scheduled to take off at 3.50 pm, took off for Mumbai at 4.20 pm after the inspection.

There was a threat against two flights that took off from Kochi the other day. Air India's Kochi-Dammam (Saudi Arabia) and Akasa Air's Kochi-Mumbai flights received the threat message. However, by the time the message arrived, the planes had already taken off. The threat of such fake bombs is on the rise not only in Kochi but also in many cities of the country. Last week alone, more than 20 bomb threat messages were received at various airports across the country. The Centre is also investigating why such fake messages are constantly being circulated.

Central government has decided to introduce a black cat system on flights in several sectors. National Security Guard (NSG) commandos will be given special training and posted in the rank of Sky Marshal inside the aircraft.