us plane forced to land in mumbai

[satzz69]

Mumbai: A Russian cargo aircraft AN-124, which was hired by the US military, triggered panic at the Mumbai airport on Friday night. The plane carrying arms, ammunition and five people onboard was asked to land at the airport after it violated the Indian airspace.


The aircraft took off from Diego Garcia Island – a US military base near Mauritius in the Indian Ocean – and was heading for Kandahar in Afghanistan.


But it entered the Indian airspace at around 2200 hrs IST without having Air Traffic Control permission. The aircraft was forced to land at the Mumbai airport at 2240 hrs IST.


The AN-124 aircraft is used by military to haul cargo and is owned by a Ukraine-based logistics and cargo company. On landing, the Russian crew of the aircraft was immediately taken for questioning by officials of the central investigative agencies and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).


The questioning of the aircraft crew is on to ascertain the reasons of the airspace violation which swung the security apparatus into emergency mode on Friday night.