Indian Air Force (IAF) on Monday said it momentarily scrambled fighter planes after getting a false bomb alert on an Iranian airliner.
“IAF fighter aircraft were scrambled, which followed the aircraft at a safe distance. The aircraft was offered the option to land at Jaipur and then, at Chandigarh,” the IAF said, as per an Aljazeera report.
IAF also stated that the pilot was not willing to divert to either Jaipur airport or Chandigarh airport.
According to the statement, after a while, notification was received from Tehran to ignore the bomb scare, and the aircraft to proceed its journey to its end destination.
During a press conference on Monday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Nasser Kanani, told reporters that he had heard about the plane but could not confirm the details.
The Mahan Air airbus A340 with a capacity of 475 passengers was headed from the Iranian capital Tehran to Guangzhou in China.
The tracker website shows that the aircraft performed several space-air circles west of New Delhi before heading to its final destination.
