NEW DELHI: Two pilots met with a tragic death when a MiG-21 Bison trainer aircraft crashed in Baytoo in Rajasthan’s Barmer during a training sortie on Thursday night.
Confirming the news, the Indian Air Force (IAF) said: “A twin seater MiG-21 trainer aircraft of the IAF was airborne for a training sortie from Utarlai air base in Rajasthan this evening. Around 9:10 pm, the aircraft met with an accident near Barmer. Both pilots sustained fatal injuries.”
“IAF deeply regrets the loss of lives and stands firmly with the bereaved families. A court of Inquiry has been ordered to ascertain the cause of the accident,” the IAF added.
Local authorities said that villagers heard a loud explosion at around 9 pm, and they informed authorities about it. Videos doing the rounds on social media showed the aircraft wreckage, spreading over a radius of 0.5 km, on fire.
The IAF currently operates four squadrons of the MiG-21 Bison from the 1960s. Last year alone, five MiG-21 crashes claimed the lives of three pilots. From 1971-72, according to official statistics, over 400 of the 872 MiG-21s that were part of the IAF fleet were lost to accidents.