- Saturday, March 01, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
Three persons were killed while three others were injured after an Indian Air Force (IAF) MiG-21 aircraft fell into their home in a village in the north-western Indian state of Rajasthan on Monday (8), officials said.
The ill-fated jet had taken off from the Suratgarh air base for a routine exercise when the incident happened. It crashed near Bahlol Nagar in Hanumangarh due to a technical snag.
The pilot made a timely ejection and is reportedly safe with minor injuries.
A helicopter was rushed to the spot to rescue the pilot, the IAF said.
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.— Indian Air Force (@IAF_MCC) May 8, 2023
“The pilot experienced an onboard emergency, following which he attempted to recover the aircraft as per existing procedures. Having failed to do so, he initiated an ejection,” it said in a statement.
A probe has been ordered to ascertain the cause of the incident, the air force said.
In a tweet, it said, “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.”
Om Prakash, inspector general of police, Bikaner, Rajasthan, said the pilot made all efforts to avert human casualties and crash landed the jet on the outskirts of the village, according to an NDTV report.
All the three deceased were women, according to the police.
In January, two IAF fighter planes — a Sukhoi Su-30 and a Mirage 2000 — had met with accidents during a training exercise, resulting in the death of one pilot. While one jet crashed in Morena in the central state of Madhya Pradesh, the other went down 100 kilometres away in Bharatpur, Rajasthan.
