A bomb threat written on the washroom mirror of an IndiGo flight from Phuket forced a two-hour security operation at Kolkata’s Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport on Saturday, leaving passengers stranded on the tarmac after landing.

Flight 6E1494 touched down at 2:05 p.m. Shortly after landing, cabin crew spotted the threatening message inside the aircraft’s toilet. The flight was carrying around 8.80 per cent of its passenger capacity, according to airport officials.

Airport officials moved fast. The plane was taken to an isolation bay, and passengers were evacuated and made to wait on the tarmac while the search began.

"Initial speculation is that someone did this to spread panic," an official said.

The official said the matter was reported immediately to the pilot and airport security. CISF personnel, the bomb squad and airport police then combed through the plane. Despite a long search, nothing suspicious was recovered from inside the aircraft.

Passengers Waited Over Two Hours Before Reaching the Terminal

The search dragged on for more than two hours. Passengers were allowed to enter the airport terminal only around 4:30 p.m., after the security checks concluded.

For anyone who has ever sat on a plane wondering why the doors are not opening, the wait would have felt endless. Being told a bomb threat was found on your flight, and then standing on a tarmac without clear answers, is the kind of experience that rattles people long after they reach home.

A Day Earlier, Another Threat Surfaced at the Same Airport

The Kolkata scare did not come out of nowhere. The development came a day after a bomb threat, written on tissue paper, was found at the same airport.

On Friday, cleaning staff reportedly found a handwritten note in the women’s restroom warning that a bomb had been planted at Gate Number 30. According to sources, the workers panicked after reading it and immediately alerted higher officials.

Security personnel cleared the crowd from that entrance. The bomb squad and CISF personnel searched the spot and other parts of the airport premises. Nothing suspicious turned up, according to CISF personnel and the Airport Police Station.

The Airport Police Station falls under the jurisdiction of the Bidhannagar City Police in North 24 Parganas district. Two threats in two days, both written by hand and both dismissed after searches, have left airport staff and travelers on edge.

Police Now Chasing the Writer

The hunt has moved to paperwork and cameras. Police are examining the passenger list and CCTV footage of the plane to find out who wrote the note.

Officials have not announced any arrests. No suspect has been named in the reports available so far.

What the case means for flyers is simple. A note scrawled in a toilet can halt an entire flight, stall hundreds of people, and send security teams racing across the tarmac. Whether the writer wanted panic or simply wanted attention, the outcome for passengers was the same: hours of uncertainty.