NEW DELHI – An Indian Air Force flight carrying External Affairs MinisterSushma Swaraj from Thiruvananthapuram to Mauritius went incommunicado foraround 14 minutes after leaving the Indian airspace, the Airports Authorityof India (AAI) confirmed on Sunday.
The AAI, however, ruled out a mid-air scare despite authorities at theMauritius Air traffic control activating the emergency code, INCERFA. Inthe event of a plane losing contact with an air traffic control, INCERFA isactivated only after waiting for 30 minutes since its last contact.ADVERTISEMENT
Since the IAF flight was carrying a VIP passenger, AAI said, the MauritiusAir traffic control (ATC) must have raised an alarm before the stipulatedtime. However, the AAI did not elaborate over what caused the delay inmaking contact with the Mauritius ATC after entering the tiny island’sairspace.
The IAF flight had left for Mauritius from Thiruvananthapuram at 2.08 pm.After it left the Indian airspace, it was handed over to the Male ATC whichestablished contact with the flight at 4.44 pm IST. Soon after it washanded over to the Mauritius ATC, the incident unfolded leading to panic.However, everyone heaved a sigh of relief when the aircraft came in contactwith the ATC there at 4.58 pm, the AAI said.
Swaraj was on her way to South Africa before she made a brief stopover atMauritius to take stock of preparations for the upcoming World HindiConference in Port Louis.
“Taking stock of the preparations for the Vishwa Hindi Sammelan in August2018! EAM @SushmaSwaraj and Minister of Education of Mauritius, Leela DeviDookun visited the Swami Vivekananda International Convention Centre(SVICC), the main venue of the World Hindi Conference” MEA spokespersonRaveesh Kumar tweeted.