Hijack scare at Delhi airport after Kandahar-bound flight sends alert, pilot says he made a mistake
The Ariana Afghan Airlines plane was taken to an isolation bay and surrounded by National Security Guard personnel.
A plane bound for Afghanistan was cordoned off and stopped from taking off from Delhi airport on Saturday after the pilot sent a hijack alert, the Hindustan Times reported. The pilot claimed the alarm was switched on by mistake.
The Delhi-Kandahar Ariana Afghan Airlines flight, with 124 passengers and nine crew members on board, was taxiing for takeoff at at 3.30 pm when the airport authorities received the hijack alert. The plane was taken to an isolation bay and surrounded by National Security Guard personnel, PTI reported.
The Bureau of Civil Aviation’s Director General for Security Kumar Rajesh Chandra told the Hindustan Times that the plane’s captain Pokai Naomi told security officials that the airline staff in Delhi had informed him of plans to hijack the plane. He claimed to have inadvertently entered the code to alert the Air Traffic Control about hijackings while briefing his co-pilot on the matter.