BENGALURU: A Singapore-bound Scoot flight from Bengaluru, TR573, was delayed by more than 16 hours after a passenger raised a false security alarm.

The flight scheduled to depart at 1.20am finally left at 5.23pm. Over 173 passengers were stranded at

(KIA) due to the incident.

According to sources, the passenger — not an Indian national — had issued a verbal threat to the cabin crew about a ‘gun’ in one of his bags. The passenger was rushed to the

station, where he was questioned. Airport police officers said the man was let off as he was found to be joking, and that it was not a gun but a guitar in his bag.

officials, while confirming the incident, said a ‘verbal’ security threat was issued by a passenger due to which he had to be deboarded by CISF personnel. The remaining passengers were also deboarded and their luggage offloaded, after which they had to be rescreened for security and immigration clearance, said airport authorities.

“A hoax security threat was made at 1.48am on April 23, relating to Scoot Airlines flight TR573 (BLR – SIN). Standard security protocols and procedures were followed and no suspicious items were found. A passenger was deboarded from the flight by the CISF. The remaining passengers and baggage were also deboarded and rescreened for security and immigration clearance. A replacement aircraft and crew was flown into Bengaluru. Meanwhile, food and refreshments were organised. During this time, there was no impact on operations at the airport,” said a

spokesperson.

A replacement flight from Singapore, operated by a new crew, was arranged by the airline to ferry the affected passengers from Bengaluru to Singapore, said a Singapore Airlines spokesperson. “Scoot mounted a replacement flight from Singapore to transport-affected customers from Bengaluru,” the airline spokesperson added.

Several passengers complained of being stuck inside the plane for hours before they were deboarded due to a ‘security issue’.