Two French fighter jets made an emergency landing in Malta yesterday after being unable to refuel in midair on their way to a reconnaissance mission over Libya.

The Mirage FI planes landed short of fuel at Malta International Airport just after 2 p.m. on given clearance by the Maltese authorities. Once they were refuelled by an Enemalta bowser, the jets flew back out at 4.30 p.m.

French Ambassador Daniel Rondeau, who greeted the pilots at the airport, thanked the Maltese authorities for granting immediate permission and keeping him informed of developments.

He said the jets were unarmed and had left their French base in Corsica for a reconnaissance operation over Libya. They started to run out of fuel before reaching their destination because a “technical issue” prevented them from refuelling in midair, he said.

They missed their mission and returned to Corsica.

“Malta was very welcoming and I would like to thank the Maltese authorities very warmly. The pilots were very happy,” he said.

He stressed that the incident did not trample on Malta’s neutrality because the jets were not on a fighting mission.

Although Malta has said it would not act as a military base in Nato’s attacks on Libya, it is by law expected to allow landings in case of an emergency, on a humanitarian basis.

The same issue cropped up last month when three Qatari planes asked to land in Cyprus due to lack of fuel. Cyprus, which also wants to stay out of the Libya conflict, originally refused their request to land at Larnaca airport. However, when the Qatari planes insisted it was an emergency, the island had to accept them.

Yesterday’s landings were also reminiscent of when two Libyan Mirage fighter jets flew into Malta after defecting from Muammar Gaddafi’s forces.

Although the Libyan government asked for the jets back on numerous occasions, the Maltese government refused to return them, due to the allegation that they were being used to fire on civilian protesters.