An Indian Air Force pilot was killed after a MiG-21 combat jet crashed in Himchal Pradesh’s Kangra today. ‘Today afternoon a MiG-21 aircraft, which was on a routine sortie crashed at 1321 h in Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh. The aircraft had got airborne from Air Force Station Pathankot at 1220 hr,’ an official statement said.
‘The pilot sustained fatal injuries during the accident. A Court of Inquiry has been ordered to establish the cause of the accident,’ the statement added.
Last month, two such crashes were reported in Gujarat and Maharashtra.
In Gujarat, a Jaguar fighter jet crashed in Kutch district soon after it took off from the Jamnagar air base on June 5, killing a senior officer who was piloting the aircraft.
Air Commodore Sanjai Chauhan, the Air Officer Commanding Air Force Station Jamnagar, who was flying the deep penetration Jaguar fighter jet died when the plane crashed in a field in Bareja village.
“The Jaguar aircraft on a routine training mission from Jamnagar crashed around 10.30 am,” Defence spokesperson Lt Col Manish Ojha had said. “The pilot, Air Commodore Sanjai Chauhan, sustained fatal injuries in the crash,” he said. A Court of Inquiry was ordered (by the air headquarters) to investigate the cause of the accident, he said. “The plane, which was on a routine sortie, crashed near Bareja village,” he said.
The plane’s debris was strewn far and wide on the outskirts of the village and carcasses of the killed animals were seen lying in the field.
