KARACHI – Indian air force fighter jets on Friday intercepted a Georgian An-12 aircraft from Tbilisi to Delhi via Karachi to land at the Jaipur airport after it deviated from the flight path.
The aircraft deviated from its scheduled flight path and entered Indian Air Space at 3:15 pm from an unscheduled point in north Gujarat, according to reports in India media.
“The aircraft did not follow the authorized Air Traffic Services (ATS) route and was not responding to Radio calls from Indian controlling agencies. Since ATS routes in the area were closed due to the current geopolitical situation, and the aircraft entered Indian Air Space from an unscheduled point, the Air Defence interceptor on operational readiness was scrambled and vectored towards the unknown aircraft for investigation,” India’s defence ministry said in a statement.
#WATCH: Indian Air Force fighter jets force an Antonov AN-12 heavy cargo plane coming from Pakistani Air space to land at Jaipur airport. Questioning of pilots on. pic.twitter.com/esuGbtu9Tl
— ANI (@ANI) May 10, 2019
The aircraft neither responded on international distress frequency nor to visual signals during interception, the statement added.
“When challenged, the aircraft responded and informed that it was a non-scheduled An-12 aircraft that had got airborne from Tbilisi (Georgia) for Delhi via Karachi. The aircraft was shadowed and forced to land at Jaipur for necessary investigation,” it further read.
The pilots and crew are being questioned, the NDTV reported.
The Antonov An-12 is a four-engined turboprop transport aircraft designed in the Soviet Union and is very popular with cargo operators.
