Bomb scare on Varanasi-Bengaluru IndiGo flight, Canadian detained
Varanasi, Apr 27 (PTI): Panic broke out at Varanasi airport after a foreign national aboard a Bengaluru-bound IndiGo flight claimed he was carrying a bomb, police said on Sunday.
The incident took place on Saturday night, police said, adding that the passenger, a Canadian, has been detained.
Security sleuths are questioning the man, officials said.
Following the bomb scare, the aircraft was moved to the isolation bay for a thorough inspection, but no explosive material was found, said Puneet Gupta, Director of the airport.
Gupta said the IndiGo crew promptly informed the Air Traffic Control (ATC) about the threat after the passenger's claim.
The flight was grounded and inspected as per standard security protocols. After receiving clearance from security agencies, the aircraft departed for Bengaluru on Sunday morning, officials said.
"Flight 6E 499 operating from Varanasi to Bengaluru on April 26 was delayed due a bomb threat received before takeoff. As per protocol, the aircraft was taken to an isolation bay, passengers were safely disembarked and all standard operating procedures were followed," IndiGo said in a statement.
"We deeply appreciate the patience, understanding, and cooperation of our customers," it said.
A detailed probe is on in the matter.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
