The two aircraft had taken off
from the Gwalior air base in Madhya Pradesh where an exercise was going on. One
pilot was killed and two others received serious injuries after two fighter
aircrafts, a Sukhoi-30 and a Mirage 2000 aircraft of the Indian Air Force
crashed on Saturday while on exercise, confirmed the IAF.
Taking to Twitter, IAF wrote,
“Two fighter aircraft of IAF were involved in an accident near Gwalior today
morning. The aircraft were on routine operational flying training mission. One
of the 3 pilots involved, sustained fatal injuries. An inquiry has been ordered
to determine the cause of the accident.”
Preliminary reports suggested
that one aircraft fell in Morena in Madhya Pradesh and other reportedly went
down in the general area around Bharatpur, the sources said. The Sukhoi-30 had
two pilots while Mirage 2000 had one pilot during the crash.
Videos from the crash site shot
by locals in Morena have gone viral on social media platforms, and it shows the
smouldering debris of the aircraft strewn on the ground
According to a report by The
Economic Times, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has also been briefed about the
crash by Indian Air Force Chief, and he had enquired about the well-being of
the IAF pilots who are being monitored closely. The IAF has ordered a court of
inquiry to examine if a mid-air collision led to the crash.