A British Airways plane had to make a dramatic turn to avoid flying over Iraq and being at the receiving end of Iran’s missiles after it launched a dozen missiles at a9ir bases used by US troops.
The British flight Boeing 777 that had taken off from Mumbai towards London can be seen circling back before it could fly over Iraq on the flight maps, reported the Mirror. The flight carrying 200 passengers turned away within minutes of entering the Iraqi and Iranian airspace two hours after the attacks took place.
The Indian nationals in the flight were left stranded at the airport as they did not have Schengen Area visas.
Several airlines changed their routes on Wednesday after Iran launched more than a dozen ballistic missiles against US military and coalition forces in Iraq. The attack had targetted at least two bases at Al-Asad and Abril, Pentagon confirmed on Wednesday.
Several flights between London and Kuwait also had to change their route to avoid being shot down adding extra air-time to the flights.
The CEO of ESG Global, IT and marketing firm, told Mirror Online: "Nobody knew anything until we got the bad news and we were flying into Athens.
On Friday, the United States had carried out a fatal strike against Soleimani in Baghdad after which Iran vowed to take the "harshest revenge" against Washington. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump has threatened that his country will hit 52 Iranian sites if Tehran dares to take any action against the "preemptive" strike.
Iran's semi-official news agency Fars News Agency tweeted a purported video of missiles firing and said "Start of Iran's vengeful US retaliation / Moment of Iranian missile firing at US base in Ain al-Assad."
With inputs from ANI
