An Indian Air Force fighter plane, Sukhoi-30MKI crashed in Shivkar Kudla village in Barmer district of Rajasthan on March 15. Both the pilots have been rescued safely. There has been no casualty in the unfortunate incident, however, it being reported that three of the civilians have sustained injuries, who have been rushed to the hospital for further treatment.
The police officials and rescue teams are currently at the spot. The IAF had 240 Su-30MKIs in service as of 2017. The Su-30MKI is reportedly going to be the backbone of IAF’s fighter planes by the year 2020. This is the seventh time that Sukhoi-30MKI has crashed. The first time the Sukhoi-30MKI crashed was in the year 2009 in Rajasthan. One pilot was killed in the accident that took place due to the incorrect position of critical switches behind the pilots.
The incident took place during the training period. Citing ‘technical snag’, the Air Force said that the pilots tried to land the jet on an uneven field which led to the crash. The Sukhoi-30MKI jet had taken off from Jodhpur.
The incident comes hours after Chetak helicopter of the Indian Air Force (IAF) toppled during an emergency landing near Allahabad. While pilots were safely ejected, no casualties were reported.
It was in September last year that a MiG-21 aircraft had crash landed in the same area.
Meanwhile, the Indian Air Force (IAF) has ordered a probe into the incident in order to ascertain the reason why the MiG-21 aircraft developed a technical snag which led to its crash.
