Indian Navy's remotely piloted aircraft crashes during take off at Kochi

KOCHI: Indian Navy's remotely piloted aircraft crashed during take off at Kochi on Tuesday, the Defence spokesperson confirmed.

There have been no reports of fatalities or injuries so far. 

The searcher aircraft was on a routine surveillance mission when it crashed while taking off from the North of Naval airfield at Wellington Island at 10:25 am.

A board of inquiry is being constituted to investigate the cause of the accident.

Earlier in July 2016, another searcher was ditched into the sea in Kochi after engine failure. That remotely-piloted vehicle was also on a routine mission sortie when it had to be ditched around 9 miles off Kerala's Kochi.

(More to follow)