Iran forces plane carrying Americans to land

September 06, 2014 14:53

A charter plane carrying 100 people, including Americans, out of Afghanistan was ordered to land in southern Iran because of errors in its flight plan, a Tehran-based official said today.

The rare incident prompted a flurry of reaction in the United States but the problem was solved and the aircraft headed on to Dubai, its original destination, after a few hours on the ground.

"We realised that the flight information was incorrect and to be sure there was no problem, we asked to pilot to land," said Mohammad Ali Ilkhani, head of the Iranian Airports Organisation.

Flight FZ 4359, operated by Fly Dubai, landed at an airport in Bandar Abbas, a port city on the Gulf. The plane had earlier left Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, US officials said yesterday.

The State Department quickly refuted US media reports that Iran had scrambled fighter jets and forced the charter plane to land.

Ilkhani said airport officials had not been aware that Americans were on board but the plane was asked to land because it was in Iranian airspace and there was a problem with its route information.

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