Stock Image | Photo credit: AP
Key points
- French police deny reports of Paris explosion
- Police say a fighter plane caused a sonic boom in the city
- The Rafale jet was scrambled to help another plane in distress.
Paris: French police have confirmed that the massive noise heard in Paris and the nearby suburbs was not caused by an explosion, but by the sonic boom of a military plane.
Police in the French capital said the sonic boom was caused when the military plane broke the sound barrier.
The enormous noise had previously scared Paris residents and sent netizens in the French capital on edge on social media.
“A very loud noise was heard in Paris and in the Paris region. It was not an explosion, it was a fighter plane crossing the sound barrier,” the Paris police posted on their Twitter account.
The police asked people not to call the emergency phone lines.
The French military said the plane, which crossed the sound barrier, was moved to assist another plane that had lost radio contact. The aircraft in question was authorized to travel at supersonic speed.
“A Rafale, performing an intervention to help an aircraft that had lost contact, was cleared to break the sound barrier to reach the aircraft in difficulty,” said a spokesman for the French Air Force. AFP news agency.
Previous reports had cited eyewitnesses who said the buildings shook when the loud noise was heard.
There were also no reports of smoke or fire being seen in the city.
The sonic boom also forced players at the French Open tennis tournament, which is underway in Paris, to pause play for a few minutes.
