‘UFO’ sighting in afternoon shuts Imphal airspace for 3 hours | Guwahati News

GUWAHATI: The air space over Imphal was temporarily closed and all flight operations at the Bir Tikendrajit International Airport were suspended for over three hours as IAF Eastern Command activated an air defence mechanism after an unidentified flying object was sighted over the airport on Sunday afternoon.
In an X post, the IAF Eastern Command said, “IAF activated its Air Defence Response mechanism based on visual inputs from the Imphal airport.The small object was not seen thereafter.”
The Airports Authority of India (AAI) reported that at 2:30 pm, Imphal ATC received a telephonic message from the CISF control room that an unidentified flying object (UFO) was seen flying overhead the terminal building and it moved southwards above the ATC and remained stationary there for some time. Thereafter, it moved southwest of the airfield and was visible till 4.05 pm and disappeared thereafter.
“The UFO was visible from the terrace of ATC by ATS personnel, public, local police, airlines staff and CISF personnel and was unidentified to all the viewers,” an AAI official said, adding that the object was white colour that could be seen with the naked eyes and became invisible with the onset of the dusk.
AAI stated that at 3:55 pm, the Eastern Command of IAF commenced their “Mission Red & Mission Blue” through the scrambling of fighter planes in the Imphal airspace which continued till time 5:35 pm.” It added that normal flight operations from the airport resumed at 5.50 pm after getting clearance from the IAF.