NEWSLINKS
US EDITION
COLUMNISTS
DIARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTION 99
ELECTIONS
ARCHIVES

Search Rediff

Mock hijacking causes a scare

The Rediff Team

Chaos and confusion prevailed in the civil aviation ministry and the airport authority offices on Saturday after reports that militants had hijacked a Jet Airways flight going from Bangalore to Madras.

But it turned out to be a mock exercise that the civil aviation authorities were conducting to check the preparedness of the pilots and the aircraft crew in the wake of the hijacking of the Indian Airlines Flight 814 to Kandahar in December.

The report from national news agencies said the Jet Airways flight going to Madras was hijacked and was to be taken to Singapore.

Later, the civil aviation authorities clarified that the chartered flight from Bangalore to Madras had landed safely in Madras.

"We were conducting a mock test. But some passengers waiting for their flights in the airport security launch noticed the police moving in the bay and spread the word that the aircraft was hijacked," an Airport Authority of India spokesperson in Bangalore told rediff.com.

He said the mock exercise went smoothly. "The problem was created by the journalists who spread the story that is was a hijack. In the wake of the Kandahar incident, everyone believed it," he said.

A K Shivannandan, the Jet Airways spokesperson in New Delhi said that the Jet Airway office in the capital was not even aware of this exercise. "We were taken aback as we were not aware of it," he said.

Asked whether Jet Airways would lodge any complaint about the incident, he said the exercise may have been done in consultation with his company's head office.However, he stated that the passengers might have also been aware of the exercise.

Surinder Kumar Sahigal, deputy secretary in the ministry of civil aviation, confirmed that the mock exercise was meant to check the alertness and efficiency of the airport staff.

He said the AAI has planned several such exercises in the wake of the hijacking of Indian Airlines flight IC 814. "We had alerted the airport security officials that mock hijacking exercises will be held often. These exercises are morale-boosters for the security officials," Sahigal said.

Recently the Mizoram police arrested a Naga insurgent while he was surveying the Lenpui Airport. Interrogation revealed that he was planning to hijack an Indian Airlines flight from Aizawl to press for the release of the top Naga insurgent Th Muivah.

The Thailand police had arrested Muivah while he was trying to flee the country after he jumped bail and tried to flee the country.

Back to top

Tell us what you think of this report