- The unidentified aerial vehicle was spotted in the afternoon at 2 pm (local time).
- The airport authorities later closed the ‘controlled airspace’ and stopped flight operations.
- Two flights were diverted, while three were delayed.
- The Indian Air Force (IAF) scrambled its Rafale fighter aircraft to search for them.
- Eastern Command said, “IAF activated its Air Defence response mechanism based on visual inputs from Imphal airport. The small object was not seen thereafter.”
- The Rafale fighters of the Indian Air Force are deployed at the Hashimara air base in West Bengal and keep flying from different air bases in the eastern sector along the China border.
The Unidentified Flying Object was sighted over the Imphal airport around 2:30 pm yesterday after which a few commercial flights were affected. India’s northeastern Manipur state has been on alert after an unidentified flying object was spotted near the capital Imphal city airport’s runway.
A news outlet reported, citing a source, that the unidentified aerial vehicle was spotted in the afternoon at 2 pm (local time) by a Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel following which operations were halted and around 500 passengers of three outbound flights were stranded.
A news channel reported, citing sources, that the airport authorities closed the “controlled airspace” and stopped all flight operations immediately. Two flights were diverted, while three were delayed.
According to reports, the air traffic control (ATC) and people on the ground saw the drones around, after which the three flights, two Air India, and an IndiGo flight, were told not to take off. At the same time, two incoming flights were diverted.
The Indian Air Force (IAF), soon after receiving information about the sighting of an unidentified flying object near the Imphal airport on Sunday, scrambled its Rafale fighter aircraft to search for them.
“Soon after information about the UFO near the Imphal airport was received, a Rafale fighter aircraft from a nearby airbase was scrambled to go and search for the UFO,” defence sources told the news outlet. “The aircraft equipped with advanced sensors carried out low-level flying over the suspected area to look for the UFO but it did not find anything there,” they said, adding that after the first aircraft returned, one more Rafale fighter was sent for the search but the UFO was not seen around the area. “The agencies concerned are trying to find out the details of the UFO as there are videos of the UFO over the Imphal airport,” they said.
Soon after the Imphal airport was cleared for flying, the Shillong-headquartered Eastern Command of the Indian Air Force stated that it had activated its Air Defence response mechanism without giving any specific details of the steps taken by it.
Eastern Command, in a post on ‘X’ (formerly Twitter), said, “IAF activated its Air Defence response mechanism based on visual inputs from Imphal airport. The small object was not seen thereafter.”
The Rafale fighters of the Indian Air Force are deployed at the Hashimara air base in West Bengal and keep flying from different air bases in the eastern sector along the China border. The Rafale fighters recently also took part in the mega Air Force exercise Poorvi Akash along the China border where all major assets of the force participated along with the troops of the Army.
(With inputs from agencies)
