Zeenews Bureau
Shimla: A MiG-29 fighter jet of the India Air Force crashed into a mountain in Himachal Pradesh, officials said on Wednesday. The jet crashed during a night flying exercise near Lahaul-Spiti.
The pilot of the jet, which was on its way to Leh in Jammu and Kashmir, is missing.
The mishap occurred at 8.30 pm last night in Chokang village. Chokhan village on the Keylong-Udaipur highway is about 40 km from the district headquarters of Keylong and 450 km from here.
IAF has sent a team to locate the wreckage and the missing pilot, an Air Force spokesperson said in Delhi.
Two MiG-29 aircraft of Western Air Command took off from Adampur in Jalandhar for night flying exercise in high altitude and during a turn, one of them crashed into a mountain.
DSP, Lahaul-Spiti, Khajana Ram said that they were informed about the crash at 11.00 pm last night and the rescue teams had reached the area by 3.00 am. "As it is a high altitude area, we are facing difficulty in locating the wreckage," he said.
The IAF said the second plane returned safely and the exercise has not been called off.
This is the seventh air crash involving IAF's fighter aircraft this year and the second this month. On October 7, a MiG-21 aircraft crashed near Uttarlai airport in Rajasthan's Barmer district but the pilot ejected safely.
(With PTI inputs)
First Published: Wednesday, October 19, 2011, 09:38