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U.S. plane grounded in Mumbai

Mumbai Feb. 3. In the second intrusion by a foreign plane in three days, a private American Boeing 757 on a flight from Karachi to Male was grounded here today after it was found overflying Indian airspace without permission.

Air Traffic Control here asked the pilot of the aircraft belonging to Conco Corporation to land here at 6.11 p.m. as it did not have ``air defence clearance,'' the Civil Aviation Minister, Shahnawaz Hussain told PTI in New Delhi.

Indian Air Force sources said the aircraft with a 11-member crew strayed into Indian airspace.

At first, the plane was told to leave but it hung on, prompting the IAF to ask the ATC to advise the pilot to land in Mumbai. The pilot abided.

Airport officials said the plane was taken to an isolated bay where IAF personnel and security agencies questioned the pilot, Commandant John Burg and others.

This is the second intrusion by a foreign aircraft in three days after a US Air Force plane flew 150 nautical miles east of Chennai last Friday. — PTI

Sandeep Dikshit reports from New Delhi:

Sources said ``routine measures'' were taken in asking the plane to land.

They did not confirm whether IAF fighters from nearby bases scrambled to check violation of air space over strategically important installations including Bombay High and Bhabha Atomic Research Centre facilities in Trombay.

The crew had been detained for deviating from ``well-defined air traffic rules''. The normal procedure is not to arrest the crew but detain it for explanation.

As per preliminary information, the aircraft deviated and then regained its assigned path.

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