BENGALURU: A misunderstanding between a Dutch national who was carrying a guitar and a woman passenger left more than 150 people, scheduled to travel to Singapore, stranded at Bengaluru international airport for around 15 hours on Tuesday.
When the woman inquired about the Dutchman's guitar box, he said "It's a machine!" which she misunderstood as a machine gun. The woman raised a security alarm, delaying the takeoff of Flight TR573, run by budget airline Scoot.
A senior police officer said the flight was scheduled to depart to Singapore from Bengaluru at 1.20 am. Before the flight took off, a female passenger claimed she spotted a machine gun inside a piece of cabin luggage.
However, after thoroughly checking the baggage, the airport police concluded that the Dutchman did not have a gun with him. No case has been filed against the man.
In a statement, the spokesperson from KIAL airport said, "Standard security protocols and procedures were followed and no suspicious items were found. A passenger was de-boarded from the flight by the CISF. The remaining passengers and baggage were also de-boarded and rescreened for security and immigration clearance. A replacement aircraft and crew is being flown into Bangalore. The flight is now scheduled to depart Bengaluru to Singapore at 1620 hrs. Meanwhile, food and refreshments have been organised."