Acid bag creates a scare at Kochi airport Monday, 26 July 2010 03:24

By John Mary

Kochi: A plastic bag containing chemicals with foul smell created a scare at Nedumbassery international airport as it was being loaded on to a Chennai-bound Kingfisher flight here yesterday.

Personnel loading the cargo on to Kingfisher IT 2482 flight found the packet before the departure of the flight at 8.30 am, a spokesman of the Cochin International Airport Company Limited (CIACL) said.

The courier bag, delivered by Blue Dart, had three bottles containing boric acid and some chemical liquid, sent by Hindustan Unilever Company to a detergent firm in Pondicherry. A CIACL spokesman said the courier had not specified the contents in the bag. The baggage was later taken for a detailed investigation and officials of the courier service and Hindustan Unilever Company were summoned to the airport, for clarifications.

CIACL director ACK. Nair set up a three-member committee, comprising representatives of Blue Dart, Hindustan Unilever and the airport cargo operator to conduct a detailed probe.  But he denied reports that a fire broke out in the cargo hold of the aircraft.

Soon after the incident all 38 passengers and crew alighted and the aircraft was thoroughly checked. The flight later left for Chennai without the baggage. Security personnel said that the incident was the result of the negligence of CIAL X-ray screeners who screened the baggage at the cargo section. It was a clear security lapse of cargo screeners, they said. But what really baffled the security agencies was how the packet passed through the high-resolution scanners and security checking. A separate investigation would be held how the CIXL X-ray screeners on duty failed to detect the chemical liquid baggage. An expert said boric acid was harmless in a normal concentration but it doesn’t have any explosive property either alone or when it comes into contact with other chemicals. A diluted form of the acid is being used an eye lotion. But like most other chemicals, it can cause distress when inhaled. THE PENINSULA

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