Two civilians killed as MiG-27 crashes; Pilot safe

A MiG-27 aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) crashed near Alipurdwar in West Bengal on Friday evening killing two civilians on the ground even as the pilot ejected safely.

The aircraft had taken off from the Hasimara air base in Jalpaiguri district.

The crash happened at 8.30pm about 10 minutes after it went airborne, an IAF official in New Delhi said.

While a court of inquiry has been ordered by the IAF, this is the second crash involving the MiG-27 fighter jet. In January, an aircraft crashed in Rajasthan's Barmer district. The pilot had ejected safely then too but aircraft debris has fallen on a biker injuring him.

Since 2011, India has lost 29 aircraft out of which 15 have been the ageing MiG fighter variants.

Currently India is looking to replace the ageing Russian MiG-27 aircrafts which even that country has stopped using.

In February, 2010, India had to ground its entire MiG- 27 fleet numbering close to 150 aircrafts after a technical fault in the engine was found to be the reason of a crash in Siliguri, West Bengal.

MiGs form the bulk of IAF's combat aircraft fleet. MiG-27s fleet is to retire by 2015.