Hijack threat note found on Kolkata-Mumbai Air India flight

A hijack threat note found in the washroom of a Mumbai-bound Air India flight shortly before its scheduled departure triggered a security alert at Kolkata airport on Wednesday. All 105 passengers were deboarded and the aircraft was moved to an isolation bay for security checks.

The note was discovered by the cabin crew inside the lavatory of Air India flight AI 2772 at 10.37 am, according to an official statement. It threatened that the aircraft would be hijacked at 11.10 am.

The flight was scheduled to depart at 10.20 am for Mumbai. The discovery of the note prompted airport authorities and security agencies to initiate precautionary measures before the aircraft could take off.

Airport director Vikram Singh confirmed that the threat note had been found shortly before departure. He said all 105 passengers on board were deboarded and the aircraft was parked in an isolation bay.

The official statement said the aircraft had 105 passengers on board when the note was detected and that the agencies concerned were carrying out necessary checks.

Moving an aircraft to an isolation bay allows security personnel to examine it separately from other airport operations. The checks are intended to establish whether the threat is credible and whether any suspicious object or material is present on board.

The incident also prompted scrutiny of the circumstances in which the note was left inside the aircraft's washroom and how it was discovered before departure.

The threat specified 11.10 am as the time of the purported hijack, giving security agencies a narrow window to respond after the note was found. The aircraft was taken out of normal operations as a precaution.

There was no immediate information on the identity of the person who may have left the note or whether any suspect had been identified.

Air India was yet to issue a statement on the incident. Further details about the security checks and the flight's departure arrangements were awaited.