Air India flight diverted
Authorities in Dubai diverted an Air India plane to a military air base after receiving information concerning the security of the aircraft, the official Emirates News Agency WAM reported Wednesday.
Quoting an official at the Dubai General Civil Aviation Authority, the agency said “concerned authorities at Dubai International Airport ordered an Air India passenger plane to change course and land instead at al–Minhad air base in Dubai” late Tuesday.
“The Authority received information on the safety and security status of the Dubai–inbound plane and precautionary checks were made to ensure the safety of the plane and passengers,” the official added.
The agency said the control tower at the Dubai airport received “notification” from a control tower in India about the aircraft. After the two towers communicated, authorities discovered that the “information was wrong.”
It was not clear what specifically prompted authorities to divert the plane, what the wrong information was and whether the plane had posed a terror threat.
After searching the plane and the passengers, authorities transported all the passengers to Dubai International Airport, to process their entry procedures into the city, the Gulf’s tourism and business hub.
The incident came two days Al–Qaida’s No. 2, Ayman al–Zawahri warned in a videotape that the terror group would strike the Persian Gulf and Israel. Dubai is one of the seven emirates that make up the UAE.