Mangaluru: A Mangaluru-Mumbai IndiGo flight was delayed by six hours after a female passenger alerted her to a suspicious message on her mobile phone. The incident took place at Mangaluru airport on Sunday. Following the information provided by the passenger, all the passengers were disembarked from the aircraft and the luggage was checked thoroughly.
A passenger mistakenly saw a message on a fellow passenger’s phone causing panic at Mangaluru airport for hours. The woman was shocked when she saw the word ‘bomber’ on the phone of the young man who was sitting with her.
The young man was busy chatting on WhatsApp with his female friend who was supposed to go to Bengaluru from Mangaluru. During the chat, the woman’s friend sent a message to the young man’s phone saying that she is a ‘bomber’, the Times of India reported, quoting the authorities. This message was seen by the female traveler who was near the young man. The panicked passenger brought it directly to the attention of the pilot without even telling the cabin crew.
The pilot reported this to the air traffic controller. Following this, the plane that was about to enter the runway to take off was called back. The aircraft that disembarked the passengers was then taken to Isolation Bay. All baggage checked there. After completing other formalities, the passengers were taken back. The flight took off at 5 pm. By then the flight was delayed by six hours.
There were 185 passengers on board. The young man who received the ‘bamber’ message on his phone was not boarded on this flight. He was taken for questioning by the police. The female friend had also missed the flight she had already booked.