ISLAMABAD: A missile accidentally fired from Indian territory into Pakistan last week “narrowly missed” dozens of commercial jets that passed through its direct trajectory that day, international media reported on Thursday.  

The Pakistan military demanded an explanation from India over its “flagrant violation” of its airspace, saying the unarmed surface-to-surface missile could have resulted in an aviation disaster and resulted in casualties. The missile crashed in Mian Channu city in Pakistan’s Punjab province, damaging a wall in a residential area.

India responded last week by admitting that the incident had taken place due to a “technical malfunction” during routine maintenance, expressing relief that no lives were lost as a result of the missile launch.  

A Pakistan Air Force spokesperson, during a press briefing last week, revealed that the missile flew at an altitude of 40,000 feet and a speed of mach 3 (2,300 miles) an hour. Modern commercial jets tend to fly at and below this altitude.  

“Several planes passed through the direct trajectory of the missile that day, which flew from the Indian garrison town of Ambala and ended up in Mian Channu in Eastern Pakistan,” Bloomberg reported.

Among the planes that passed through the missile’s direct trajectory was a Flydubai jet heading to Dubai from Sialkot, an IndiGo plane from Srinagar to Mumbai and an Airblue Ltd. flight from Lahore to Riyadh.

“All crossed the missile’s trajectory within an hour of its accidental launch, data from flight-tracking application Flightradar24 show,” Bloomberg said.

Other planes were also within the missile’s range at the time, including a Kuwait Airways Co. jet heading to Guangzhou from Kuwait City, a Saudi Arabian Airlines flight to Riyadh from New Delhi, and a Qatar Airways service from Kathmandu to Doha, that could have been hit, data from the app showed.  

A time-lapse video prepared by Flightradar24 showed busy flight activity on both sides at around 7pm, the approximate time of the accidental launch identified by India on March 9.  

The world has witnessed aviation disasters of similar consequences in the past. A Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 was struck by a missile from a Russia-based military unit in 2014, killing all 298 people on board, as it flew over Ukraine.  

In 2020, Iran shot down a Ukrainian passenger jet, mistaking it for a cruise missile. All 176 people on board were killed.  

A top official at India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation, Pakistan’s Civil Aviation Authority and India’s defense ministry didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment sought by Bloomberg.