Pilots may have tried to minimise damage: Navy chief

Navy today said the two pilots flying the Kiran Mk II aircraft, which crashed may have tried to minimise the damage by crashing into a water-tank on the top of a three-storeyed building in Hyderabad.
   
"The pilots have not ejected. So, the possibility is that either time wise there was a problem or they were trying to minimise the damage to civilian areas," Navy chief Admiral Nirmal Verma said here.
   
Both the pilots of Navy's Sagar Pawan Aerobatics team died in the crash.
   
The pilots were Commander SK Maurya, who hailed from Sultanpur and Lt Commander Rahul Nair who belonged to Delhi.
          
The Navy chief added that a Court of Inquiry has been ordered into the incident and senior officials of the force's air arm were already in Hyderabad.
   
Asked about the reasons behind the crash, Verma said, "It would be premature to say anything on that."