Aircraft Crash in Madhya Pradesh: Both Pilots Dead, DGCA Initiates Probe

Superintendent of Police Sameer Saurabh told PTI that efforts are on to identify the body while a search is on for the woman trainee pilot who is missing.

As per a report on PTI, a trainer aircraft with two trainee pilots on board crashed in Madhya Pradesh's Balaghat district on Saturday, March 18, 2023. According to the local police, the charred body of a man was found in the mountains of Lanji and Kirnapur areas, about 40 km from the Balaghat district headquarters, near the crash site. The body of the woman trainee pilot was found later. As per the preliminary information, the trainer aircraft had taken off from the Birsi airport in Gondia district of Maharashtra bordering Balaghat, the police officer said.

As per PTI, an Air Safety Team (AST) of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation reached Birsi airport in Gondia district of Maharashtra on Sunday to investigate the aircraft crash Authorities have not yet found the black box of the ill-fated aircraft belonging to the Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi (IGRAU), sub-divisional officer of police (SDOP), Balaghat, Madhya Pradesh, Durgesh Armon told PTI.

On Sunday, the bodies of flight instructor pilot Mohit Thakur and trainee pilot Vrikshanka Maheshwari who were killed in the aircraft crash in Balaghat district were handed over to their families. "The bodies of both the deceased have been handed over to their families after completing formalities and the reason for the crash could only be ascertained after the probe," IGRAU spokesperson Ramkishore Dwivedi said.

Thakur (24) was a resident of Brungal in Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh and trainee pilot Maheshwari (19) hailed from Gandhidham in Kutch district of Gujarat, he said. Meanwhile, a police officer from MP denied the claim that the aircraft might have crashed due to bad weather in the hilly area, about 40 km off the Balaghat district headquarters. The weather was clear, he said.

Meanwhile, Dwivedi said, "A two-member Air Safety Team has reached Birsi to probe the crash and the exact reason can be ascertained only after they submit their report. The aircraft involved in the mishap was a Diamond DA-40 type single-engine aircraft and such an aircraft does not have a black box. Moreover, the aircraft had been destroyed completely after the crash".