Amid reports of UFO sightings over Imphal skies, the Indian Air Force scrambled two Rafale combat jets to look for them, latest media reports said on Monday. The incident took place on Sunday when an ‘unidentified flying object’ was sighted over skies near Imphal Airport.
According to news agency ANI, the IAF sent two fighter planes at around 2:30 pm on Sunday. The flight operations at the Imphal Airport were hit due to the UFO sighting. In a post on X, the IAF did confirm sending combat jets to search for UFO. However, later, the post was deleted. “IAF activated its Air Defence response mechanism based on visual inputs from Imphal airport. The small object was not seen thereafter,” the now-deleted post on X read.
The Indian Air Force has stationed its Rafale fighters at the Hashimara air base in West Bengal, where they conduct regular flights from various air bases in the eastern sector along the border with China. Reports say that till about 5:35 pm on Sunday, the white air-borne object was clearly visible from ATC room. Apart from the Indian Air Force, local police, CISF staff are also probing the Sunday incident. Several videos made by civilians are doing the rounds on the social media.
As many as three flights were ready for departure from Imphal Airport at the time the ‘UFO’ was sighted. However, due to the situation, the takeoffs were delayed for almost two hours. The flights were given a go ahead for the takeoff only after the airport turned back to normalcy.