Kerala - Kochi   

Bomb hoax triggers scare at airport

KOCHI: An anonymous phone call received at a city fire station on Monday warning that a bomb has been planted at Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) created a security scare at the airport. The call, however, turned out to be hoax.

The fire station passed on the information to the police control room, which in turn relayed the message to the airport.

On immediate receipt of the message, contingency plan adopted in cases of emergencies was activated.

An urgent meeting of the bomb threat assessment committee was held to decide on the course of action to be taken to tackle the situation.

The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) swung into action.

The entire area was sanitised while the Quick Reaction Team of the CISF along with the police started a search. The bomb detection and disposal team and the dog squad of the CIAL were also pressed into service.

The entire airside and city side of the domestic and international terminals, cargo terminals and airlines offices were thoroughly searched.

However, the search proved futile as nothing was found. Following this, a meeting of the Bomb Threat Review Committee was convened to review the situation.

The committee, which was reconvened to assess the situation, decided to enhance all the security measures at the airport in view of the incident. “The security agencies will maintain high vigil for the next 24 hours,” a senior official said.

Consequently, the CISF intensified the surveillance activities, baggage checking and access control. The police intensified the city side surveillance, perimeter patrolling and vehicle checking.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Taking the sting off chemical spills
Plea against Kuruvilla to police
Kingfisher launches new service
Federal Bank declares 40% dividend
Study finds preference for biogas plants
Stiffer penalties for plastic-ban offenders
Bomb hoax triggers scare at airport
Accidents come down on MG Road
Postponed
Women’s panel sitting
Exporters’ appeal
Court restraints on Pariyaram society high court round-up
A cup of joy for Sreesanth’s family
Kochi today

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu