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Over 40 Afghan aircraft forced to land by Uzbek Air Force in Temrez

16 August 2021 23:25 (UTC +04:00)

Uzbekistan’s Air Forces have forced to land 46 Afghan aircraft over the past two days, the press service of the Uzbek prosecutor general’s office said on Monday, APA reports citing TASS.

"The planes were forced to land at Termez international airport. The planes were carrying as many as 585 armed servicemen who were trying to illegally cross Uzbekistan’s airspace," said Khayet Shamsutdinov, a spokesman for the prosecutor general’s office.

According to the spokesman, in an attempt to compel airspace violators to land, a MiG-29 fighter jet of the Uzbek Air Forces collided with an Embrayer-314 aircraft flying from Afghanistan. The planes crashed but their pilots safely ejected themselves from their aircraft.

Apart from that, 158 Afghan nationals have been detained by Uzbek border guards over two days in Uzbekistan’s Termez district.