Reshma Ravishanker

It was a usual Friday morning with a large gathering of students assembling in schools, teachers going about their routine duties until a hoax bomb threat turned jolted the authorities, warranting a sudden evacuation.

Students and staff members of the schools across the city which received threat calls on Friday were evacuated within minutes of the mails being received on their school’s official mail ids threatening that a bomb had been planted and that ignoring this would be a threat to the lives of many.

In one such, students at Ebenezer International School, a day-cum-boarding school in Electronics City were rushed to an open ground nearby soon after the threat mail was received, and parents were intimated.

“It was around 12.30 pm that I got a call from my son. He said that the school had received a hoax mail and he asked me to be prepared to come pick him up, if need be,” recollected Nandini Roy Chaudhary, one of the parents of a class 12 student.

She said that her son assured that the school had evacuated all students to safety and that there was nothing to fear now. “Students were asked to leave all their belongings including bags and books in the classrooms and head outside. The school said there was no need to leave. I heard about it when my son called from another number and informed me,” said Nandini.

Meanwhile, at Vincent Pilloti School at Kalyan Nagar in Bengaluru, parents were asked to pick their students back from school. “Investigations are underway. The bomb and dog squad have been summoned to examine the campus. Each nook and corner is being checked. Nothing has been found so far,” the police said.

Yet another school that received threat mails, Delhi Public School (Bangalore East) also evacuated the premises soon after the information was received. Mansoor Ali Khan, member, board of management, DPS Group of Schools said, “We got a threat mail at 10.45 am. We immediately informed the local police. The dog and bomb squad arrived. We put the safety of the children first,” he confirmed.

Also read: Bengaluru schools get bomb threat, students evacuated