Mumbai Airport Evacuated, People Wonder if It's Bomb Scare

The Terminal 2 of the Mumbai Airport was evacuated on Saturday morning for a mock drill, police said, urging people not to panic amid social media buzz.

“A mock drill is being conducted at Mumbai International Airport. No one needs to panic,” the Mumbai Police said, ANI reported.

Pictures were widely shared on social media showing passengers being moved out of the Terminal 2 of the Mumbai airport. According to officials, the mock drill was not expected to affect the schedule of the flights.

“Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport conducted a simulated mock drill exercise as per scheduled security protocols. The mock drill was held this morning at Terminal 2 location in collaboration with (the) CSMIA’s multiple stakeholders. After all successful assessments and checks, the terminal was continued to be declared safe with the drill completed at 11:48 hours,” an official statement by the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport read.

However, some passengers expressed outrage over the panic created due to the mock drill. While many others were caught off guard as the evacuation process began.

“Dear @AAI_Official, if you’re planning to do a mockdrill anywhere, at least have some communication going on as to who’s to do what, go where. The sheer chaos at Mumbai airport right now is crazy and I’m sure a lot of people will miss flight because of it. Absolute craziness,” Abijit Ganguli said on Twitter.

“Don’t know what’s happening but Mumbai T2 airport terminal being evacuated!! Apparently some sort of threat,” one Cyrus Dhabar said in a tweet.

The Twitter Handle of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport replied saying that it was a scheduled mock drill. “Dear Sir, the activation is a scheduled mock drill only as per our security and safety protocols and measures,” CSMIA said on Twitter.

The airport later said that after all the successful assessments and checks, the terminal was continued to be declared safe with the drill completed at 11:48 am.

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