New Delhi (Sputnik) — India has admitted that one of its UAVs ran into technical problems and accidentally crossed over the Line of Actual Control (de-facto border) before crashing in the Chumbi Valley in Yadong County, part of the Tibet Autonomous Region. The acknowledgement was issued after China strongly objected to the Indian drone violating its territorial sovereignty.
"An Indian UAV which was on a regular training mission inside Indian territory lost contact with ground control due to some technical problem and crossed over the LAC in the Sikkim Sector. As per standard protocol, the Indian border security personnel immediately alerted their Chinese counterparts to locate the UAV," Colonel Aman Anand, the Indian Army's spokesman said.
Earlier on Thursday morning, China said the entry of the drone had violated its territorial sovereignty. "China's border defense forces took a professional and responsible attitude in conducting an inspection of the device," Zhang Shuili, a senior military official in China's western battle zone command said.
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The Indian defense ministry said later that the Chinese had offered the location details of the UAV and that the exact cause of the incident was under investigation.
