Wing Commander Abhinandan suffered injuries on lower spine, rib: Medical reports

Image Courtesy: ANI

The MRI scan of Indian Air Force Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman was conducted on Sunday at Research and Referral Hospital in Delhi Cantonment and the doctors did not find any bugs. 

Sources told ANI that the scan has also revealed that Abhinandan has suffered an injury in his lower spine which could have happened due to his ejection from his MiG-21 after the fierce aerial dogfight with Pakistani F-16 fighter jet on February 26.

Sources: In the MRI scan of the Wg Cdr #AbhinandanVarthaman, the doctors did not find any bugs. The scan has also shown that there is an injury in his lower spine which could have happened due to his ejection from his MiG-21 after aerial engagement with an F-16. (file pic) pic.twitter.com/OyWEeGjDnY — ANI (@ANI) 3 March 2019

Sources added that the scan also showed that a rib of  Wing Commander Abhinandan was injured due to assault by Pakistani locals soon after he landed in PoK after his plane was shot down. Abhinandan is set to undergo more check-ups and treatment at Research and Referral Hospital.

Sources: A rib of Wg Cdr #AbhinandanVarthaman was also injured due to assault by Pakistani locals soon after he landed on ground in PoK after his plane was shot down. He will undergo more check ups&treatment at Research and Referral Hospital in Delhi Cantonment.

— ANI (@ANI) 3 March 2019

On Saturday, it was reported that Wing Commander Abhinandan was subjected to severe 'mental harassment' during captivity in Pakistan. The Wing Commander informed that "though he was not physically tortured by the Pakistanis, he went through a lot of mental harassment."

Wing Commander Abhinandan remained in Pakistan's captivity for around 59 hours before being handed over to Indian authorities on Friday night. 

Wing Commander Abhinandan was flying the MiG 21 Bison when he chased the Pakistani F-16 fighters which had transgressed into the Indian airspace, and in the process, his plane crossed over to the Pakistani side and was shot down. Though he managed to eject safely but was taken into custody by the Pakistan Army upon landing.

The MiG-21 which Abhinandan was flying is not a very large aircraft but it can fly at a very high speed which allows it to sneak up to enemy planes from low altitude. The presence of a delta wing makes the MiG 21 highly manoeuvrable in dogfights. MiG 21 is a single seater plane with a length of 14.7 m (48 ft 2 in) and wingspan of 7.154 m (23 ft 6 in). The empty weight of MiG 21 is 5,846 kg (12,880 lb) and its loaded weight is 8,725 kg (19,230 lb) with 2 × K-13A missiles. The maximum takeoff weight of this fighter jet is 9,800 kg (21,600 lb). 

(with ANI inputs)