The incident occurred because of a “technical malfunction” during routine maintenance earlier this week, India's defense ministry said in a statement.
India said on Friday that it accidentally fired a missile at Pakistan this week due to a "technical fault" during routine maintenance, after long-time foe Pakistan warned that the incident could have "unpleasant consequences".
"On 9 March 2022, during routine maintenance, a technical fault resulted in an accidental firing of the missile," India's Defense Ministry said in a statement.
“It is learned that the missile landed in an area of Pakistan. While the incident is extremely regrettable, it is also a matter of relief that no one has lost their lives due to the accident.”
Earlier on Friday, Pakistan's Foreign Office said it had summoned India's charge d'affaires in Islamabad to register a protest about the unprovoked violation of its airspace. Pakistan demanded an inquiry into the incident, saying it could endanger passenger flights and civilian lives.
Pakistan warned India to be "ware of the unpleasant consequences of such negligence and to take effective measures to avoid recurrence of such violations in future".
Military experts have in the past warned of the risk of accidents or miscalculations by neighbors who have fought three wars and engaged in several military conflicts, most recently in 2019, both of which had air forces engaging in combat. Both countries have nuclear weapons.
Pakistani army spokesman Major-General Babar Iftikhar said in a press conference late on Thursday that a "high-speed object" crashed near its eastern city of Mian Channu and was traveling from the north Indian city of Sirsa to New K in Haryana state. Nearby crashed. Delhi.
"The flight path of this object jeopardized many national and international passenger flights in both Indian and Pakistani airspace as well as human life and land property," he said.
In a press conference on Thursday, Iftikhar also called on India to share the outcome of the investigation into the incident.
A Pakistan Air Force official said the object traveled at Mach 3 at an altitude of 40,000 feet, and flew 77 miles over Pakistani airspace before crashing.