A Singapore Airlines flight bound for the city-state was delayed for two hours after airport authorities received through a call a bomb threat that later turned out to be a ruse.
Police and military bomb dispersal experts rushed to the plane and ordered its 300 passengers and crew to deplane while airport ground handlers cautiously took down countless pieces of check-in luggage and cargo from the commercial airline’s cargo belly.
Each piece of check-in luggage and even carry-on bags were checked using x-rays and bomb sniffing dogs. Some bags whose contents alerted security personnel underwent methodical physical checks which made the process of clearing the plane of "the bomb" lengthy and laborious.
Passengers who before the bomb scare went through the cursory physical security inspections at several checkpoints inside the terminal were carefully checked again by civilian security personnel before finally allowing them to board the plane.
Airport police officials said a man, identifying himself as "Omar Abdullah" called up airport authorities at 12:45p.m. and claimed that a passenger would carry a bomb inside Singapore Airlines flight SQ-073.
The plane whose scheduled flight was scheduled to leave at 2:15 p.m. was allowed to take-off at 5:06 p.m. (Ronniel C. de Guzman)
