Nothing suspicious found on Delta flight in Mumbai

MUMBAI - Nothing suspicious has been found aboard the Delta Airways Amsterdam-Mumbai flight which had made an emergency landing at the international airport here, the authorities said Friday.

Airport sources told IANS that the aircraft with 244 passengers on board was moved to an isolated area soon after it landed at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport around 11 p.m. Thursday night in a state of full emergency.

The emergency landing of ETW-070 was necessitated following an alert from Amsterdam, warning of an unidentified object in the cargo hold of the aircraft.

Security agencies took charge of the aircraft and carried out a complete check of the baggage and cargo inside before the green signal was given around 2 a.m. to lift the emergency, and the aircraft was moved to a parking bay.

The airport authorities and the security went into a tizzy handling two emergencies barely 36 hours before the arrival of US President Barack Obama. A few hours before the Delta flight incident, a Jet Airways Mangalore-Mumbai flight 9W-432 with 163 passengers made an emergency landing following a suspected tyre burst.

The US president’s fleet of aircraft is scheduled to land at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport Saturday afternoon as Obama begins his Nov 6-9 India visit from Mumbai.