Fiery scare

A night sortie of air force fighters on Tuesday spoilt the sleep of some residents of Payalpur at Pirpainty.

Residents of Purnea, Katihar, Khagaria, Madhepura, Bhagalpur, Banka and neighbouring districts of Jharkhand like Pakur, Godda, Sahebganj also had similar experiences. Vinod Yadav, a resident of Payalpur, said: “We heard loud noise around 8.30 on Tuesday evening. Initially, we ignored it. But soon we saw flying objects in the sky discharging fireballs.”

It was not too late before the residents realised that the objects are fighter planes from the nearby air force bases. “We initially couldn’t identify the flying objects but soon realised that they were fighter aircraft from IAF’s air bases in Purnea or Pakur in Jharkhand. We thought the aircraft had lost directions and rushed to the nearby airstrip of Bhagalpur to arrange for lights to help them land,” said Dipak Singh, a resident of Jiccho village.

Wing Commander Bishwajeet Kumar of Chunapur Air Force base in Purnea said: “The fighter planes were conducting their night exercises and did not have any adverse effect on the people. Usually, such exercises are performed during the day but because Tuesday’s exercise was conducted in night, there was confusion among people.”

On the discharge of fireballs, Kumar said when the engines of the aircraft turn hot, they emit fire.

Ajit Jha, a resident of Bhagalpur, recalled of a similar incident in August 2004 when a fighter plane flying very close broke some of the windowpanes of his house. Later, authorities at Chunapur air base said the aircraft had to hover in the sky because of some technical problems.

District administrative officials were not ready to comment as this was an air force exercise.