No bomb found, Moscow-Goa flight delayed by 15 hrs

The Moscow to Goa international flight, which had made an emergency landing at Jamnagar airport in Gujarat following a bomb threat, took off for its destination on Tuesday afternoon after nearly 15 hours as nothing suspicious was found onboard, officials said.

The Azur Air international flight took off for Dabolim at around 1:20 pm on Tuesday with all passengers and crew members.

"The flight landed at the Dabolim airport in Goa at 2.39 pm," a senior official from the airport told PTI.

The flight was diverted to the Jamnagar airport following a bomb threat and made a safe emergency landing there at 9.49 pm on Monday, officials had said.

After evacuating all 236 passengers and eight crew members, the plane as well as the luggage was thoroughly checked but nothing suspicious was found, they said.

The crew and passengers spent the night at the Jamnagar airport lounge.

'All's well that ends well! Azur Air 4501 resumed its journey from Air Force station Jamnagar where it had been diverted to last night after security protocols were activated due to a bomb threat,' the Indian Air Force (IAF) tweeted.

Upon landing, IAF security personnel isolated the aircraft in its isolation bay and evacuated 236 passengers to safety.

Immediate hospitality was extended by the authorities at the Air force station Jamnagar to make the passengers comfortable, it said.

The IAF also said NSG bomb disposal teams flown in by it scanned the aircraft and personal baggage before clearing the flight to its final destination- Dabolim airport, Goa.

"The National Security Guard (NSG) and Jamnagar police teams completed checking the aircraft on Tuesday morning and found no suspicious object," Jamnagar Superintendent of Police Premsukh Delu told PTI earlier in the day.

The bomb disposal squad of local police began checking the flight on Monday night.

Later, the first NSG team arrived from Ahmedabad at around midnight. Another NSG team arrived from Delhi at around 3 am, Delu said.

Earlier, Jamnagar Collector Sourabh Pardhi said, "The Jamnagar Air Force base informed us about the bomb threat. Perhaps, the threat was received by the Goa ATC (Air Traffic Control). The search has been completed and nothing suspicious was found."

The Russian Consulate General in Mumbai said the Russian airliner Azur Air, which made an emergency landing due to a false report of a bomb on board, has landed safely in Goa.

After landing at the Dabolim airport, some Russian passengers recalled they were initially clueless why they were de-boarded from the flight in Jamnagar.

The passengers said they were looked after properly at the airport where they spend almost 15 hours.

"We had no idea initially what was happening. We were told later about it (bomb scare). But that was fine," a Russian flyer said.

Another passenger said they were provided with proper food and water at the Jamnagar airport.

They (authorities) took care of us, he said.

After landing, the Russian passengers travelled to their hotels in North Goa, a senior Airport official said.