GUWAHATI: A mysterious object in the sky forced Imphal’s Bir Tikendrajit International Airport to suspend flight operations for nearly four hours on Sunday. The object was spotted in the airspace above the airport around 2.30 pm and was visible till around 4.30 pm. The Air Force and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) were immediately alerted.
Flight operations resumed at 6.20 pm after the Air Force scanned the airspace and gave a clearance. A clearance was also received from the DGCA. Airport’s director Chipemmi Keishing told this newspaper that the object could be seen with bare eyes.
“Due to sighting of an unidentified flying object within Imphal controlled airspace, two flights have been diverted and three departing flights have been delayed,” he said. “We don’t know whether it was a drone, UFO, or something else,” Keishing said. “As per the standard operating procedure, flight operation has to be stopped if any unidentified object is seen flying around an airport.
So, all arrivals and departures were closed,” he said. The object was flying at a high altitude and was not within the shooting range from the ground, Keishing added. The diverted flight included an Indigo flight from Kolkata which was initially instructed “to hold overhead” and was diverted to Guwahati after 25 minutes.