UFO in Manipur? Imphal airport on alert after spotting unidentified flying object: Report

Manipur's Imphal airport was kept on alert after an unidentified flying object (UFO) was spotted on Sunday. Since alert, two flights have been diverted and three flights have been delayed.

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Security officials were on alert after the incident at Bir Tikendrajit International Airport, Imphal. The airport was shut for four hours in afternoon for the same reason.

A very small drone was spotted by security personnel at Imphal Airport on Sunday at 3 pm. Later, an alert was issued to other agencies at the airport and operations were postponed till security clearance. Three flights were affected due to the security clearance. The flight operations resumed at 5.30 pm, reported ANI citing sources.

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Due to the sighting of an unidentified flying object within Imphal controlled Airspace, two flights have been diverted and three departing flights have been delayed. Flight operations commence after receipt of clearance from a competent authority, said Imphal International Airport Director Chipemmi Keishing in an official statement.

In a post on X, Eastern Command said, “IAF activated its Air Defence response mechanism based on visual inputs from Imphal airport. The small object was not seen thereafter.”

A passenger named M Pramod who was travelling to Chandigarh said that his flight was delayed. "I had to move to Chandigarh but our flight was delayed due to some reason. Now we will move to Chandigarh tomorrow after on a re-issued ticket," he said.

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The object was first sighted by a CISF personnel in afternoon. As a result, a few flight operations were obstructed causing inconvenience to several passengers of three outbound flights, reported Times of India citing sources. Around three flights bound to Agratala, Guwahati, and Kolkata were suspended till 6 pm, according to the TOI report.