According to reports, the Indian army’s helicopter has reached the accident site for rescue. Meanwhile, the pilot is safe as he jumped the aircraft in time using a parachute.
MiG-21 started its journey from the Suratgarh Air Force station and the pilot reported a technical snag soon after the take-off. According to the reports, two women were killed after the fighter jet crashed into a house in Bahlol.
“A MiG-21 aircraft of the IAF crashed near Suratgarh during a routine training sortie today morning. The pilot ejected safely, sustaining minor injuries. An inquiry has been constituted to ascertain the cause of the accident”, the IAF said in a statement.
The incident comes days after an Indian Army helicopter with two pilots and a technician crashed in a forest area of Kishtwar district of Jammu and Kashmir. According to the Indian Army, all three people on board were injured and taken to Command Hospital, Udhampur.
On January 28, 2023, two fighter jets of the Indian Air Force (IAF) crashed in the state of Madhya Pradesh during routine drills.
According to Indian media, a search and rescue operation was underway. However, details of casualties hadn’t been received till the filing of this report.
The downed Indian Air Force jets included a Sukhoi Su-30 and a Mirage 2000 which had taken off from the Gwalior Air Force base. The videos of the wrecked jets’ debris scattered on the ground in the Morena area surfaced soon after the crash.
“The Su-30 had 2 pilots while Mirage 2000 had one pilot during the crash. Initial reports suggest 2 pilots are safe while an IAF chopper reaching the location of the third pilot soon,” Indian media reported.
Five army soldiers were killed last October when their helicopter crashed in Arunachal Pradesh state, near the country’s militarised and disputed border with China.
It was the second Indian military chopper crash in the northeastern state that month, coming weeks after a Cheetah helicopter came down near the town of Tawang, killing its pilot.
India’s defense chief, General Bipin Rawat, was among 13 people killed when his Russian-made Mi-17 helicopter crashed while transporting him to an air force base in December 2021.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is grappling with the urgent task of overhauling India’s outdated armed forces.