Jet Airways passenger's tweet send security agencies into a tizzy

Jaipur: A Jet Airways passenger today tweeted that he suspected a Mumbai-Delhi flight had been hijacked, sending security agencies into tizzy at the airport here. The Delhi-bound flight 9W355–carrying 176 people onboard, including 8 crew members–was diverted to Jaipur due to bad weather at Delhi.

Soon after the aircraft landed here, security agencies carried out a thorough check and the passenger who tweeted the message was offloaded. The passenger, who was travelling from Mumbai, tweeted in the morning saying, “@narendramodi sir we have been in jet airways flight for past 3 hrs, looks like hijacked, pl help 9W355”.

In a statement, a Jet Airways spokesperson said a passenger tweeted a message involving a security threat necessitating activation of the security protocol. “The information was promptly shared with the concerned authorities including the CISF, and the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) and local law enforcement agencies in line with Standard Operating Procedures,” he said.

According to the spokesperson, the concerned guest was subsequently offloaded for questioning by security agencies at Jaipur, owing to diversion of the flight. After the plane landed, the aircraft was checked before it took off to Delhi. It could not be immediately ascertained what further action was taken with respect to the passenger.

Acting JIA director M P Bansal told PTI that five Jet Airways and one Oman Air flight coming from different locations which were supposed to land in New Delhi were diverted to Jaipur airport due to bad weather conditions.