A plane crash involving two fighter jets in India has killed one pilot and seriously injured the other.
“Two IAF fighter jets were involved in an accident near Gwalior this morning. The aircraft was on a routine operational flight training mission,” the Indian Air Force (IAF) said. wrote in a statement on Twitter. “One of the three pilots involved suffered fatal injuries.”
“An investigation has been ordered to determine the cause of the accident.”
The accident on Saturday morning involved a Russian-made Sukhoi Su-30 with two pilots and a French-made Mirage 2000 with one pilot.
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People stand next to a plane wreckage after a Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jet and a Dassault Mirage 2000 crashed during an exercise in the Pahadgarh area, some 30 miles from Gwailor, on January 28, 2023.
(AFP via Getty Images)
The planes crashed in an open field near no civilians. The villagers heard a sound similar to an explosion and found parts of a plane in the nearby countryside.
People stand next to a plane wreckage after a Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jet and a Dassault Mirage 2000 crashed during an exercise in the Pahadgarh area, some 30 miles from Gwailor, on January 28, 2023.
(AFP via Getty Images)
While local media initially reported no known fatalities, the IAF reported that Wing Commander Hanumanth Rao Sarathi suffered fatal injuries, adding that “all air warriors and the fraternity strongly support the bereaved family.”
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Both planes have been identified as having taken off from Gwalior airbase, some 30 miles east of where they crashed, the BBC reported. The police found a plane, with an injured but alive pilot in the forests of Padargarh.
In this photo provided by the US Air Force, an Indian Air Force Mirage M-2000 waits to taxi to the runway (right) while an Indian Air Force F-15C Eagle (left) the US lifts off on February 13, 2004 in Gwalior. Air Force station in India.
(Keith Brown/U.S. Air Force via Getty Images)
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The IAF confirmed that an Air Force team reached the second plane and found a hand near one of the crash sites, according to the Hindustan Times.
Saturday’s accident is the latest in a series of accidents the IAF has had to deal with in recent months, according to the BBC.
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Five soldiers were killed in October when their helicopter crashed near the Chinese border, and General Bipin Rawat, the head of India’s armed forces, was one of more than a dozen killed in another helicopter crash when the vehicle it crashed into a hill and burst into flames. .
