Sukhoi fighter jet goes missing

A Sukhoi-30 fighter jet of the Indian Air Force went missing during a routine flying mission along Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border on Tuesday. With two pilots onboard the fighter jet took off from Tezpur's Salanibari Air Force station at around 10:30 am.

The two seater Su-30 MKI aircraft of IAF, which got airborne from Tezpur Airbase on a routine training mission as part of a two aircraft formation, lost Radar and Radio contact with controlling station at around 1110h, the Indian Air Force said in a statement on Tuesday evening.

"The last reported position was 60 Km North-West of Tezpur. The aircraft was declared overdue and Search and Rescue operations have been activated to locate the aircraft and the pilots. Help from civil administration and military authorities has also been sought for the search and rescue effort," the in a statement.

On May 19, 2015 another Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter, flying from Tezpur's Salanibari Air Force station on a routine flight, lost contact with the radar at the air force station and crashed. The aircraft had developed a technical problem and the pilot was forced to abandon the aircraft.

Since their induction in the 1990s six Su 30s have crashed. The last Sukhoi crash occurred on March 15 when a Su-30 MKI had crashed in Rajasthan's Barmer, hours after a Chetak helicopter crash landed and toppled in Kaushambi near Allahabad.