‘Mysterious’ flying objects over Mumbai cause a scare

The objects were first sighted by a Jet Airways pilot, but disappeared after a few minutes

The Mumbai Police and several other security agencies on Monday held a meeting and shared information on four or five ‘mysterious’ objects spotted flying above airport two days ago.

Not only are such objects not allowed near the airport premises, the fact that they were moving against the direction of the wind has set off concerns that they were remote-controlled and could have been used for surveillance.

The alarm thus raised led the Prime Minister’s Office to direct all the agencies to carry out a thorough investigation.

As per laws laid down by the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), paragliding, hot balloons, drones, sky lanterns or any other form of flying objects are strictly not allowed near airport premises.

The objects were first sighted by a Jet Airways pilot and disappeared after a few minutes.

Even though they did not confirm whether any leads had been obtained, senior Mumbai Police officers expressed the hope that they would soon unravel the mystery.

After the police had a meeting with representatives from Central Industrial Security Force, Air Traffic Control, Mumbai International Airport Limited and several other agencies, Joint Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Deven Bharti said the information that each one of these agencies had about the incident was exchanged and the collated information would be used to track down those behind the flying objects.

“We are hopeful that we will nail the mystery soon,” he claimed.

Asked whether a case had been registered, Mr. Bharti said that once the information is processed and those behind the flying objects are traced, a call would be taken.

Police sources suspect these objects to be lanterns which use heat generated from wax to move up. The radars installed to track aerial movements in and around Mumbai, including those used by defence forces, failed to pick them up.

Initial inquiries

This, said sources, could be because of their size and the altitude at which they were flying but raises questions about chinks in the defence shield. Initial inquiries also ruled out the possibility of the flying objects belonging to the Naval airbase.

It is also learnt that Military Intelligence is also carrying out a probe.