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'Mystery' message by pilot

By T.S. Shankar

CHENNAI AUG. 1. A message — ``Hostages in Trouble,'' radioed by the pilot of an Air India jet while cruising between Japan and Bangkok, kept the Air Traffic Controllers of Chennai and Colombo airport on tenterhooks for over four hours.

Detailing the sequence of events, airport sources told The Hindu here today that the Air India flight (AI-305) while flying from Japan to Bangkok en route to New Delhi on Wednesday suddenly radioed a message ``Hostages in Trouble'' through the High Frequency system to the Flight Information Region (FIR) of Chennai and Colombo airports.

The sources said efforts made by the Chennai and Colombo Air Traffic Controllers did not yield any positive response from the plane commander. With tension increasing the New Delhi Air Control Tower and rescue wing was activated and the Bangkok and Hong Kong FIRs were alerted. The high drama came to an end after the flight landed around 2-30 p.m. in Bangkok airport.

The ATC authorities informed after checks that there was nothing unusual and reported normal operations.

Even though senior officials of the National Airports Division of the Airports Authority of India (NAD-AAI) monitored the mid-air drama, only a full-fledged inquiry by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) will bring to light why the pilot radioed such a message and later reported normal operations.

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