Pilot dies as 2 IAF fighter planes crash in Madhya Pradesh's Morena

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 28

An IAF pilot died as two fighter jets were involved in a suspected mid-air collision near Morena in Madhya Pradesh on Saturday.

The two other pilots who were in the other jet ejected safely.

The IAF said, “Fighter aircraft of IAF were involved in an accident near Gwalior on Saturday morning. The aircraft were on routine operational flying training mission. One of the three pilots involved sustained fatal injuries.”

The two jets, a Russian-origin Sukhoi 30 MKI and a French-origin Mirage 2000 had taken off from Gwalior in the morning and were part of an exercise.

The Sukhoi was being flown by two pilots while the Mirage had one pilot.

The IAF has ordered an inquiry.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh was briefed by IAF chief Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari on the crash. Singh enquired about the well-being of the IAF pilots and is monitoring the developments closely. 

While giving details of the crash and debris of the two jets getting strewn across several kilometres, sources said the Mirage-2000 crashed near Morena immediately after the collision. 

The Sukhoi was in the air for sometime and the pilots ejected safely.

Portions of the jets were strewn across Morena in Madhya Pradesh and Bharatpur in the neighbouring Rajasthan.