Avantika Dassani, daughter of veteran actress, Bhagysahree recently found herself in the middle of a harrowing ordeal. On January 13, 2025, Avantika’s flight from Goa to Mumbai was disrupted by a bomb threat which later turned out to be fake. However, the fear and disturbance of Avantika and her co-passengers were very much real. The Mithya actress recently recalled her experience about the same.
In a candid chat with Hindustan Times, Avantika recalled her unexpected ordeal after boarding the flight to Mumbai from Goa. The actress recalled how the journey started on a happy note as it was the pilot’s first-ever flight, but turned to utter chaos before landing. Avantika shared:
“Before we landed, some of the air hostesses seemed to be in a little bit of panic. They opened our baggage and try to identify something. We thought it was some co-passenger who needed their bags… When we landed, the gates weren’t opening, and we were kept waiting for about an hour. Outside the window, we could see all of these cop cars and there were ambulances, cars with lights and stuff like that. We started wondering what's going on, and then the pilot said there was some slight safety concern.”
After deboarding, Avantika and her co-passengers underwent rigorous safety protocols to ensure security for everyone on board. Recalling how the whole ordeal turned the originally 45-minute flight into almost five hours, Avantika shared:
“When they finally opened the gate, they made us take out all our hand luggage and place it at a centre. We waited for about an hour to get our stuff back and our terminals were changed mid-air. When we reached the gate, another checking and screening happened. They even took handwriting tests from us all. It took about three to four hours. So, a flight which was supposed to take 45 minutes, lasted close to five hours.”
While the process added hours to the journey, Avantika remained calm. She kept her composure but the situation understandably caused panic among some passengers. She told HT:
“By the time we got out of the flight, we were surrounded by so many security personnel… I had already realised that something serious is going on. While I wasn’t scared, there were people around me who were obviously getting a little tense about the situation, not understanding what's happening and the scene was scaring them.”
While the whole bomb incident turned out to be a hoax, it was immensely stressful and tiring for the passengers and their families. Avantika recalled how her mom, Bhagyashree was distressed and stayed up the whole night waiting for her return. Meanwhile, the flight, scheduled to land at 10:30 PM, ended with passengers exiting at 4:00 AM. Avantika also reflected on the rising number of fake bomb threats disrupting flights and causing unnecessary panic. While she was glad as well as frustrated at the whole ordeal, she will remember the flight as ‘one more experience in (her) life’.
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