The Ministry of Civil Aviation informed the Lok Sabha on Thursday that an unidentified flying object (UFO) was sighted near the Imphal airport on November 19 and the object was visible till shortly before sunset and then disappeared.
On November 19, 2023, aircraft landing and take-off at Bir Tkendrajit International Airport were suspended for about three hours and two flights were diverted to Kolkata and three departing flights were delayed on the ground.
“On 19.11.2023, at 14:30 IST, Imphal ATC received a telephonic message from the CISF control room that an unidentified flying object was sighted near Imphal airfield just overhead of the ATC tower. The object appeared to be white in color and moved in a southerly direction over the ATC tower. And remained there for some time. It was visible till 16:05 IST and then disappeared. (Sunset time at Imphal was 1626 IST),” Minister of State for Civil Aviation VK Singh said in a written message.