Assam: Two IAF pilots killed in crash in Majuli

Two Indian Air Force pilots were killed in a plane crash in this river island district today, a defence spokesperson said.

The microlight aircraft crashed soon after it took off from the Jorhat air base on a routine sortie around noon, officials said. The wreckage of the two-seater plane has been sighted and a court of inquiry ordered, the officials said in New Delhi. Tezpur-based defence spokesperson Lt. Col. Harshvardhan Pande told PTI that the two pilots killed in the crash were identified as Wing Commander Jai Paul James and Wing Commander D Vats.

The pilots attempted an emergency landing but the aircraft crashed at a sand bar in the northern part of the district and went up in flames, the official said. The crash took place at Darbar Chapori, a sand bar in the Brahmaputra, where there is no human habitation. People from other villages of the district spotted the aircraft going up in flames and informed the district authorities.

IAF personnel from the 10 Wing Air Force Station in Jorhat have rushed to the spot while police and senior officials of the district have also set out for the crash site which has to be reached by boat.
A senior IAF official said that more details of the crash can only be obtained after the team reaches the site.