IAF Jaguar crashes near Ambala, pilot unhurt

Manish Sirhindi

Tribune News Service

Landhi (Ambala), March 5

An Indian Air Force Jaguar fighter jet crashed into fields at Landhi village, 18 km from Ambala, today. The pilot escaped unhurt. The jet developed some technical snag soon after taking off from the Ambala Air Force Station.

Flight Lieutenant Vivek Chaudhary steered the aircraft away from the populated area before ejecting as the jet crashed into the fields surrounded by villages. The pilot landed at Landha village, 500 metres from the crash site.

Sources said the Jaguar took off from the Ambala Air Force Station at 1 pm and reported some technical difficultly at 1.04 pm. As the Flight Lieutenant could not recover the plane mid-air, he decided to eject and the jet crashed at 1.07 pm.

Two Air Force helicopters and a team of IAF officials reached the scene and cordoned off the area.

The IAF officials used handheld fire extinguishers to douse the flames. Six fire tenders were dispatched from Ambala and Kurukshetra districts but the area remained inaccessible. The pilot had recently been transferred from the Jaisalmer air base, where he used to train fresh recruits.

The pilot was admitted to the military hospital for general check-up. No injuries were reported. Parminder Singh, son of Ajaib Singh, said the plane swirled before crashing into their field. The crash scene is barely 500 m from IOC’s Panipat-Jalandhar underground pipeline.

Air Force officials and policemen had a tough time handling a large number of curious villagers who descended on the crash scene. Ambala Deputy Commissioner MS Brar said senior officials of the district administration were present at the scene to assist the IAF officials.