NEW DELHI, March 21 (Xinhua) -- A security alarm was triggered Sunday when an explosive, suspected to be a crude bomb, was found on board a private airlines' flight in the southern state of Kerala's capital Thiruvananthapuram, a senior police official said.
"The crude bomb was inside a ball-shaped package found wrapped in a newspaper in the cargo compartment of Kingfisher flight IT 4731 which arrived from the neighboring city of Bangalore. Airlines staff spotted the explosive during a routine security check-up after all the 27 passengers on the small aircraft had deboarded," the official said.
He said that the aircraft was immediately moved to the isolation bay and the bomb disposal squad was called in which defused the crude bomb by putting it in water.
A statement from Kingfisher Airlines said that the unclaimed package was found during a routine security check.
"The matter was immediately reported to the authorities who removed the package from the aircraft. As precautionary measure the aircraft is being checked by the security agencies," it added.
Meanwhile, the Indian Civil Aviation has ordered a probe into the "bomb scare" case, which came just days after intelligence agencies issued a high terror alert in Kerala, along with a couple of more states.
