Air Asia bomb threat: Mumbai-bound flight returns to Kolkata after drunk woman threatens of explosives

A Mumbai-bound flight from Kolkata had to make an emergency landing on Saturday after a 25-year-old woman passenger threatened the crew member that an explosive device was tied to her body. 

An inebriated Mohini Mondal told the crew members of the AirAsia flight I5316, with 120 passengers on board, that the explosive device can explode at any moment. 

The flight, that took off from Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata at 10.09 pm, returned after the threat was conveyed to flight captain John Lewis by the crew. The message was later passed on to the Air Traffic Control (ATC). 

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

As per the standard operating protocol (SOP), a bomb threat assessment committee was formed and the plane was parked at the isolation bay at 11.46 pm.

Mondal was off-loaded at 12.15 am and taken into custody by the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), which guards the airport.

"No bomb or explosive was found on her person," a top airport official told IANS. "One of the explanations for the way she behaved could be that she was drunk," he said.

The flight was given flight clearance after a thorough search by security personnel and bomb experts. It was operated by another aircraft and was airborne at 3.20 am.

(With agency inputs)