The Thiruvananthapuram International Airport Thursday was put under full emergency after an Air India flight from Mumbai received a bomb threat, airport sources told news agency PTI. As the flight approached Thiruvananthapuram airport, the pilot informed about the bomb threat at 7:30 am, and after landing at the airport around 8 am, the aircraft was moved to an isolation bay. According to PTI, a "Bomb in flight" message - written on a tissue paper - was found in the washroom of the plane. There were 135 passengers onboard and they were evacuated by 8:44 am. Information on the origin of the threat and other details are not known yet. A police probe into the matter is underway. The aircraft was also being inspected by security agencies, including a bomb detection squad, PTI reported. While passengers await for their luggage to be delivered, the aircraft is currently being examined by security agencies. In a statement, the airline company said that a specific security alert was detected on flight AI 657 during cruise from Mumbai to Thiruvananthapuram and "the crew carried out all the laid down security drills keeping passenger safety as top priority." "All passengers and crew disembarked safely. Air India accords top priority to the safety of its passengers and crew," an airline spokesperson was quoted as saying by PTI. "There has been no impact on life. Airport operations are currently uninterrupted," sources said.
