The fighter jets were launched from the Hasimara air base in West Bengal and conducted separate searches for the UFO, but they were unsuccessful.
“The aircraft equipped with advanced sensors carried out low-level flying over the suspected area to look for the UFO, but it did not find anything there,” sources in the defence industry told ANI.
search for UFO details under way: Sources
Several commercial aircraft were impacted when the purported UFO was spotted over the Imphal airport on Sunday at 2:30 p.m.
“The agencies concerned are trying to find out the details of the UFO as there are videos of the UFO over the Imphal airport,” sources told ANI.
The IAF’s Shillong-headquartered Eastern Command declared it had triggered its air defence reaction mechanism after Imphal’s airport was cleared to resume flights, but it gave no further information.
On Sunday, a UFO sighting caused multiple aircraft delays.
Following the reported UFO sighting, flight operations at Bir Tikendrajit International Airport in Imphal were suspended for a number of hours.
A few other flights were also rerouted. For example, an IndiGo flight from Kolkata was originally told to “hold overhead,” but it ended up rerouting to Guwahati. A another Delhi flight was rerouted to Kolkata.
Additionally, at least three flights—two by Indigo and one by Air India—from Imphal experienced delays. After around three hours, they were cleared to leave the airport.
Event occurs in the midst of Manipur’s continuous strife
Since May 3, there has been extensive ethnic violence in Manipur, which has raised security worries in response to the reported UFO sighting in Imphal.
The conflict began with a tribal march against the Meitei community’s request for Scheduled Tribe (ST) designation.
There have apparently been over 180 deaths from the fights, but thousands more have been hurt.
53% of Manipur’s population, known as Meiteis, are worried about the wave of undocumented immigrants coming from Myanmar and Bangladesh. In contrast, 40% of the population, the tribal Kukis and Nagas, are concerned about losing their ancestral lands.
The Manipur government is still banning mobile internet use.
The Manipur government’s decision to extend the mobile internet ban till Thursday (November 23) in light of the shaky state of law and order also occurred at the same time as the UFO incident on Sunday.
Although it was temporarily lifted in September, the restriction has been in effect since May 5.
In view of a recent ruling, it is imperative that action be taken to “stop the spread of disinformation and false rumours” and to outlaw any conduct that could “cause serious disturbances to the peaceful coexistence and maintenance of public order.”
After learning of unknown flying objects close to the Imphal airport, the Indian Air Force (IAF) scrambled its Rafale fighter planes. Using its sophisticated sensors, the aircraft tried low-level flying over the probable location but found nothing.