Chaos briefly took over Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport on Thursday morning when a 25-year-old man tried to outrun both time and airport security, all in a desperate bid to catch a flight that had already taken off. The man, identified as Piyush Soni from Navi Mumbai’s Kalamboli, arrived at the airport shortly after 09.50 am, well past the boarding time for his flight. But instead of accepting the missed flight, Soni sprinted past security and made his way toward an Air India aircraft’s parking bay in a frantic, last-ditch effort to board. Airport security quickly intercepted him and alerted the police.
Unaware that his flight had already departed, Soni instead ran toward another Air India aircraft that had arrived from Bhuj. Initially, he claimed that a passenger coach driver had mistakenly dropped him near the runway, but police dismissed the claim as false after reviewing security footage and questioning ground staff.
Security personnel were quick to respond as they noticed Soni running dangerously close to aircraft movement zones. According to the complaint filed by Air India, the incident posed a serious safety risk. Soni was running towards an aircraft, risking the movement and could have led to a fatal incident, the complaint said.
Soni was handed over to the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) officials. He has been booked for endangering lives violating airport security protocols, including relevant provisions of the Aircraft Act.
“During inquiry, Soni revealed that he arrived at the airport late and the gate had closed. He entered the runway by opening the emergency access between gate 42 and gate 43 from inside and ran towards the plane to board it without knowing which one was scheduled to depart,” said the police officer.