Sukhoi jet with 2 pilots goes missing in Assam

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 23

A Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter jet of the Indian Air Force with two pilots on board went missing at 11 am today. The jet had taken off from Tezpur in Assam at 10:30 am on a routine training mission. It lost radar and radio contact approximately 60 kilometres north-west of Tezpur (that is towards Arunachal Pradesh).

“The aircraft, which got airborne from the Tezpur airbase today morning was part of a two-aircraft formation”, an IAF spokesperson said. The other plane has landed back. “The aircraft was declared overdue and search and rescue operations have been activated to locate it and the pilots," the IAF said.

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The Sukhoi, a twin-engined aircraft, is of Russian origin. It is considered a stable aircraft. Since their induction in the late Nineties, six crashes have occurrred with ann inquiry into the plane accidents primarily indicating technical failure as the cause.

Meanwhile, Sonitpur Deputy Commissioner Manoj Kumar Deka told mediapersons that a search was on for the missing aircraft. He said all sub-divisions in his district and officials in Biswanath district, bordering Arunachal Pradesh, as well as village headmen had been alerted.