India forces U.S. cargo plane to land in Bombay
from Reuters:
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian authorities forced a U.S. cargo plane to land in Bombay late Monday and were questioning its 11 crew members after the aircraft allegedly deviated from its allotted flight path.
A senior Civil Aviation ministry official told Reuters the Boeing-757 belonged to U.S. cargo firm Comco Corp. and was on its way from Karachi to Male in the Maldives in the Indian Ocean.
"The Air Force base at Porbandar noticed that the plane was not flying on its designated route and when they checked with Air Traffic Control in Bombay they found it did not have air defense clearance," V. Subramanian, additional secretary in the civil aviation ministry, told Reuters.
He said air traffic control in Bombay asked the plane to land and the crew along with their captain were being questioned by the director of air safety and customs and military officials.
An Airports Authority of India official said the plane, flying 70 nautical miles south of Bombay, heeded the warnings of the Indian Air Force and landed at the city airport.
"It is unlikely to be anything serious," he said.