Wandering Jaffna flight reaches India

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 October 1997, 23:59 GMT]
A Lion Air flight to Jaffna lost its bearings today and was lost to the Sri Lankan air traffic control for more than five hours.

Lion Air is a private airline which flies people to Jaffna on a skeleton service.

It operates under contract with the Sri Lankan government and transports only those who get clearance from the Sri Lankan Ministry of Defence.

The flight had lost its way in the current poor weather conditions over Jaffna due to the onset of the monsoon.

It had flown over Kankesanthurai, alarming the SLA there and then onto Trivandrum in south India.

However later in the evening the aircraft managed to find its way to the Ratmalana airport in Colombo.