NEW DELHI, May 28: Passengers on an Indigo flight from Delhi to Varanasi were evacuated Tuesday morning following a bomb scare. The flight, carrying 176 passengers to the Hindu holy city in Uttar Pradesh, was halted just before takeoff after a pilot discovered a threatening note in the lavatory.

The note, found at around 5:30 AM, read: “Bomb blast @ 30 minutes.”

“There was news of a bomb on the flight going from Delhi to Varanasi at 5:35 AM today. Quick Response Teams arrived at the spot,” a Delhi fire services spokesperson told The New Indian Express.

All passengers were safely deboarded through emergency exits, according to a Delhi airport spokesperson. “The flight is undergoing a detailed inspection,” the spokesperson added. “All passengers were evacuated through the emergency exits without incident.”

Indigo stated that the aircraft was moved to an isolated area for a thorough search operation by security personnel. “The flight is currently undergoing inspection,” the airline confirmed. “Post completion of all security checks, the aircraft will be positioned back in the terminal area.”

This is the second bomb scare incident this month. Earlier, a tissue paper with the word “bomb” was found in the lavatory of an Air India flight at Delhi airport, which also turned out to be a hoax.

In recent weeks, several schools and hospitals in the national capital have received threatening emails about explosives on their premises, all of which have been false alarms according to investigators.

In February last year, an Indian army personnel was booked for making a hoax bomb call to police after missing his second flight of the day.