The reported hijacking of an Indian airliner, diverted early this morning to New Delhi, was a "false alarm", the Civil Aviation Minister, Mr Shahnawaz Hussain, told reporters.
Mr Hussain said "confusion" erupted after air traffic controllers in the western city of Ahmedabad received an anonymous call that caused the alarm.
"It was a false alarm," he said, adding that a thorough investigations into the incident would be ordered. "The hijack drama is over," he said.
"They (the passengers) are deplaning and the commandos have taken over," an aviation source said, without adding details.
The flight, which was apparently diverted after leaving India's western commercial hub of Bombay, had landed some three hours earlier in New Delhi.
The Alliance Air aircraft was carrying 52 passengers, according to earlier reports, and was thought to have been hijacked by two men shortly after midnight as it headed for New Delhi.
Flight CD 7444 landed safely at Delhi's Indira Gandhi airport around one a.m. local time.
Security officials said police commandos had cordoned off the aircraft in one corner of the airport and that negotiations had begun.
Unconfirmed reports said two hijackers had initially wanted the pilot to fly to the Gulf, but later changed their mind and opted for Delhi instead.
All airports across the country were placed on high alert and a meeting of the civil aviation ministry's Crisis Management Group met to deal with the incident.
The Cabinet Committee on Security, headed by the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, had been called for 4 a.m. local time, officials said.
