Kerala - Kannur   

Bomb hoax delays train

Staff Reporter

Netravathi Express delayed for nearly an hour

TAKING NO CHANCE: A sniffer dog searching for explosives on the Thiruvananthapuram-bound Nethravati Express in Kannur on Monday following a bomb threat.

KANNUR: A hoax call warning of a bomb threat delayed the Thiruvananthapuram-bound Netravathi Express here on Monday.

A bomb squad assisted by the local police personnel searched the train following the telephone call warning that a bomb placed on the train would explode when it reached Kozhikode Railway Station.

The train was delayed for nearly an hour due to the search operation here.

The railway authorities here said that a thorough search was conducted by the squad and the police after the train reached the railway station here at 9.40 a.m., one hour behind schedule.

The train left the station at 10.35 a.m. The railway officials said that the search team continued its operations in the running train.

Our Staff Reporter writes from Kozhikode

Sniffer dogs and bomb squads were pressed into action to check the train at Vadakara and Kozhikode stations.

Assistant Commissioner of Police K. Jayendran led the search operations.

The train, which originated from Mumbai on Sunday, was scheduled to arrive at Kozhikode station at 10.35 a.m.

But, it arrived only at 12.10 p.m. and left at 12.40 p.m.

The police said the anonymous call was received at the Information Centre of Kozhikode Railway Station at 9.20 a.m. from a coin-operated telephone box at Kuttchira in Kozhikode city.

Last week, the city police were on their toes after the police control room received an anonymous caller that a bomb had been planted at N.S.S. High School at Meenchanda.

This call had also turned out to be a hoax. Senior police officials said the hoax calls were taken seriously in the wake of the serial blasts in Mumbai last week.

Kozhikode witnessed two powerful blasts at the KSRTC and mofussil bus stations in March.

The explosion occurred soon after calls were received at the District Collectorate and a newspaper office.

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