Scoot passengers stranded overnight at Bengaluru airport in India
Passengers on a Singapore-bound Scoot flight from the southern Indian city of Bengaluru were stranded at the airport there for hours overnight, after a "verbal" security threat.
Flight TR573, which was supposed to depart Bengaluru at 1.20am local time (3.50am Singapore time) yesterday, was rescheduled by more than 14 hours, to 3.30pm.
Frustrated passengers, including families with young children and those with connecting flights in Singapore, said they were left with little information for hours.
Research and development engineer Bharath Kumar Cimbili, 30, told The Straits Times yesterday that the plane was preparing for take-off when the flight was abruptly cancelled.
According to him, a passenger had reported something "gun-like" in one of the cabin bags.
The Indian national, who works in Singapore, said passengers were told that there was a "security issue".
They were made to wait in the plane for about three hours, before all of them alighted and went through security screening and immigration clearance again.
He said the passengers were frustrated as it had been hours since they had had any refreshments and they did not know what was going to happen.
In response to queries, a Scoot spokesman said a passenger had to be removed from the flight by airport security because of a verbal security threat.
No suspicious items were found after the remaining passengers went through security screening and immigration clearance again, the spokesman for the budget carrier added.
Scoot said it had arranged a replacement flight from Singapore, operated by a new crew. - THE STRAITS TIMES
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