India missile test forces diversion of two airliners
JAKARTA, April 13: Two Garuda Indonesia flights heading to Saudi Arabia had to divert course and return to Jakarta due to a missile test carried out by India this week, an Indonesian foreign ministry spokesman said on Friday.
India’s ambassador to Indonesia would be called in to explain the incident, foreign ministry spokesman Kristianto Legowo told a news briefing.
“The ballistic test that was done by India caused two Garuda flights to Jeddah and Riyadh to re-route to Jakarta. We are trying to attain clarification from India about notification,” Legowo said. “We will immediately seek clarification from the Indian ambassador here.”
He said such information was usually passed on to the International Air Transport Association and the International Civil Aviation Organisation.
The spokesman did not say how close the missile was to the planes.
India carried out a successful test on Thursday of its longest-range ballistic missile, the Agni III, which is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead more than 3,000 kilometres, scientists said.
The missile was launched from Wheeler island off India’s eastern coast.
“India's missile testing program has always followed the requisite safety precautions,” said a spokesman for India’s ministry of external affairs.
The spokesman added that details of the test had been given a week before to civil aviation authorities in region.
Garuda officials could not immediately be contacted but Kompas newspaper quoted Ari Sapari, director of operations at the airline, as saying that the airline was not aware of the test.
“The test was conducted without earlier notice so our planes which had entered Colombo and Indian airspace had to return,” Sapari said. — Reuters
