sgelite

A western aircraft was forced to land in Iran after it accidentally encroached into its airspace.

The plane was allowed to continue to Afghanistan after its passengers had been questioned for a day, Iranian media reported today.

The nationality of the plane was unclear.

Iran's semi-official Fars news agency says it was American, but the state-owned Al-Alam television quoted an unidentified senior Iranian military official saying it belonged to a European aid agency.

An American Falcon plane, like the one it is claimed was forced to land in Iranian airspace

There were believed to be some American military passengers. Neither report said when the incident took place.

In Washington, Air Force Lt. Col. Patrick Ryder, a U.S. Defence Department spokesman, said he had no information that any such incident had occurred and was checking into the report.

Fars reported that the plane was carrying five military officials and three civilians from Turkey to Afghanistan when it 'unintentionally' entered Iranian airspace.

Iranian fighters guided the plane to an Iranian airport, the passengers were questioned and a day later were released and allowed to continue to their destination

An Iranian Saegheh fighter jet lands at Tehran's Mehrabad airport. The country's air force made the passenger plane land

It said the plane was a Falcon, apparently referring to a passenger aircraft manufactured by the French firm Dassault.

Al-Alam, Iran's official Arabic-language television station, quoted a military official saying the plane belonged to either a British or Hungarian relief agency.

He said the plane "lost its way" and violated Iranian air space. He said the passengers included American military personnel but did not elaborate.

The official said the passengers were questioned and the plane was allowed to continue to Afghanistan, Al-Alam reported.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hasan Qashqavi says he has no information about the case.

Other Iranian officials could not immediately be reached for comment.




Source: Daily Mail UK., October 7, 2008

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.


To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.


To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.


To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.