NEW DELHI, Oct 26: In the wake of a wave of hoax bomb threats to the flights operated by the Indian carriers, at least 10 hotels, including some five-star establishments, in Rajkot city in Gujarat on Saturday received bomb threats via email, officials said.
Among the targeted hotels were the Imperial Palace, Sayaji Hotel, Seasons Hotel, and Grand Regency, all well-known names in the region’s hospitality sector. Considering the coming festive season, a boom period for the hospitality industry, the bomb threats has heightened concern among the visitors.
The Rajkot Police has launched a thorough investigation to trace the origins of the threatening email. Authorities have begun rigorous checks across the targeted hotels to ensure the safety of guests and staff.
“I placed bombs in every location of your hotel. The bombs will go off in a few hours. Many innocent lives will be lost today. Hurry up and evacuate the hotel. EVACUATE NOW,” read the email received by the hotels.
The latest bomb threat comes at a time when several Indian airlines, including Air India, IndiGo, Vistara and others, have received more than 250 such hoax threat calls prompting heightened security measures at multiple airports in the country. Even on Saturday at least 25 threat calls were received by different airlines which followed 95 such threats issued on Friday.
At least three airports, Bhubaneswar, Bengaluru and Kolkata have also received bomb threats. According to officials, the airport premises were checked. Some planes which were mentioned in the threat were also taken to the isolation bay and thoroughly checked, he said, adding it turned out to be a hoax.
(Manas Dasgupta)
