The plane crashed in a field near Shirasgaon village, an official said
The plane crashed in Nashik. Pic/PTI
A Sukhoi fighter plane of the Indian Air Force (IAF) crashed in Nashik district of Maharashtra on Tuesday, police said, reported the PTI.
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The pilot and co-pilot ejected safely, Special Inspector General of Nashik Range D R Karale told PTI.
The plane crashed in a field near Shirasgaon village in Nashik, the IPS officer said.
The fighter jet was being flown by Wing Commander Bokil and his second in command Biswas when it crashed in a farm in Shirasgaon village in Nifad tehsil at 1.20 pm.
Both the pilots ejected safely and have suffered minor injuries, another police official said. They were shifted to the HAL hospital.
After it crashed, the aircraft caught fire which was doused. The parts of the plane are now spread in a 500 metre radius, he said.
Teams of Indian Air Force, HAL security and HAL technical unit visited the spot.
Another police official said while the exact cause of the crash is yet to be ascertained, preliminary information points to technical factors.
The aircraft was undergoing flight testing post overhaul and was under HAL's inventory for overhaul and testing purposes, IAF sources said. After overhauling and testing, the aircraft are handed back to IAF for operations, the sources added, the PTI reported.
The Sukhoi Su-30MKI is a two-seater, twinjet multirole air superiority fighter developed by Russian aircraft manufacturer Sukhoi and built under licence by HAL for the Indian Air Force.
A military training plane crashes in central Turkiye, killing its 2 pilots
A military plane crashed during training on Tuesday, killing its two pilots on board, Turkiye's defence ministry announced, according to the AP.
The SF-260D training plane crashed into an agricultural field in central Turkiye, after taking off from a Air Force base near the city of Kayseri.
The defence ministry said the cause of the crash remains unknown. The state-run Anadolu Agency reported that authorities have initiated an investigation, a AP report stated on Tuesday.
Television footage captured black smoke rising from the wreckage of the plane among the crops in the field, the news agency reported.
(with PTI inputs)