http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1715645.cms
IA security breach: Bag on board, not passenger
Subhro Niyogi
[ Saturday, July 08, 2006 02:44:32 amTIMES NEWS NETWORK ]
 
KOLKATA: It was a Kanishka rerun. Minus the bomb. An Indian (Airlines) flight took off from Kolkata on Wednesday evening without the staff realising that there was an unaccompanied luggage on board. Among the passengers was Union HRD minister Arjun Singh.

The potentially devastating security breach went unnoticed by security and airline officials until the passenger — an elderly lady — flew into a rage on realising that the plane had left without her.

In fact, she was in the security-hold lounge when the plane took to the skies. And none of the cabin crew noticed the empty seat in the flight booked to capacity.

It was a blunder that cost 329 lives in the Kanishka bombing in 1985 — an error that airline security manuals across the world never tire of warning against. The Kanishka bomber had checked in his luggage on AI flight 182, but did not board.

On Friday, not only did the same 'code-red violation' happen in Kolkata, IA failed to notify either the CISF or the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security. There is speculation that the security lapse happened because the staff were too preoccupied with the VIP.

The airline admitted the lapse, but denied any attempt to hush up the matter. "An internal investigation has been initiated to ascertain how IC 201 took off without the passenger," an official said.