Security officials at Indira Gandhi International airport in Delhi in India were sent into a frenzy on Saturday after an Ariana Afghan Airlines pilot mistakenly pressed the hijack button on the plane while taxying for take-off. 

The plane, carrying 124 passengers and nine crew members was bound for Kandahar when the incident occurred. 

India’s Economic Times reported that airport security sources said the aircraft was immediately diverted to the isolation bay by airport security. 

“Ariana Afghan Airlines (DEL-KDH) whilst taxying for take-off returned to isolation bay after the crew pressed the hijack button. After the basic checking the flight finally departed at 15:30 today,” said a source at Delhi airport. 

The source added that the aircraft was cordoned off by the Airport Security Group (ASG). “The aircraft was cleared for departure on confirmation that it was an error by the captain,” said the source, who added that the pilot wrote an application saying that the button was pressed by mistake. 

Following the incident, the Ariana Afghan Airlines plane took off nearly two hours after its scheduled departure.

While there was no immediate official reaction, sources said the pressing of the hijack button had pushed all agencies concerned, including the anti-terror force National Security Guard (NSG), into action.

Other Indian media reports, stated the NSG commandos and officials of other agencies responded swiftly to the situation and immediately surrounded the aircraft and carried out a security check. After the two-hour operation, that created panic among passengers on board the aircraft, the plane was cleared for take-off.