LAHORE, July 23: A bomb hoax delayed for hours the departure of a Jeddah-bound flight from the Allama Iqbal International Airport on Saturday. Immigration officials told Dawn that the Saudi Airlines flight (SV-731) was about to take off at 7.10pm when the civil aviation authorities stopped the pilot from taking off.

They said an unknown person had informed the airport authorities that a bomb had been planted in the plane. They said the plane was taken away from the main terminal for safety reasons. The bomb disposal squad carried out the search of the plane but no device was found.

Officials said that passengers were told to disembark as a technical fault had been developed in the plane. The plane had 374 passengers, including crew. Most of the passengers were Umrah pilgrims.

Later, the plane left for its destination at 12.30am on Sunday.