New Delhi: Defence Ministry on Wednesday said it was
surprised over the crash of one of its frontline Su-30MKI
fighter aircraft, which are the latest and most-advanced war
planes in IAF inventory, and ordered a probe into it.
"I am surprised that an aircraft of this type has
crashed... We will certainly look into the reasons for this. A
Court of Inquiry (CoI) has been order to look into the
reasons behind the crash," Minister of State for Defence M M
Pallam Raju told reporters here.
The minister was asked to comment on the air crash
involving the Su-30MKI aircraft which happened yesterday near
Pune.
The Su-30s fighter aircraft were inducted into the IAF in
the late 90s and the advanced `MKI` version of the planes
started being inducted in the early part of the millennium and
are considered to be new in service.
The particular aircraft which crashed yesterday was built
in the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).
The aircraft had taken off from the Lohegaon airbase on a
routine mission, presumably developed a technical snag and
crashed at Wade Bholai village, about 20 km from Pune. Both
the pilots ejected to safety.
The jet crashed at 1.30 pm, around 50 minutes after it
took off, officials said.
This is the third time a Sukhoi fighter plane crashed
since their induction into the IAF.
PTI
