Nepal: Hoax bomb threat call from Pakistan hits domestic air service from Tribhuvan International Airport

The terminal was evacuated and panic gripped, resulting in chaos, after receiving the threat call which later turned out to be a hoax.

"All the passengers were immediately evacuated to the airport's parking area after an anonymous call at TIA between 9:40 am and 9:50 am claimed that there were explosives at the domestic terminal," TIA Spokesperson Teknath Sitaula told The Himalayan Times.

The terminal duty office received two calls from an international number by the same man claiming that explosive devices were planted at up to seven areas of the domestic terminal set to explode within two hours, said Sitaula.

According to him, security personnel, including Nepali Army's bomb disposal squad and Nepal Police's sniffer dog squad, were deployed for search at 10:00am following the calls.

"The teams did not find any suspicious object during the thorough search of the terminal building, including the check-in and security check areas," said Sitaula, adding that flights began at 11:10am.

Sitaula said around 25 domestic flights were halted for an hour as search to find explosives was conducted.

International flight operations remained unaffected.

As per an official, the caller started the conversation by saying “Salam Walekum” and spoke in Nepali warning the authorities. The suspect has been identified to be a male, reports ANI.

The official said that the phone call was made from Pakistan.