Defence aircraft crashes in UP, kills pilot and one girl

A single-seater Jaguar fighter aircraft crashed in Mau this afternoon, killing its pilot and a girl working in an agricultural field, the second IAF plane to meet with an accident this week.

The deep penetration strike aircraft, which had taken off from Gorakhpur airbase at 12:10 pm, crashed in the field in Dilahi Firozpur village, about 50 kms from the district headquarters, DIG Azamgarh L Ravi kumar said.

It burst into flames killing a 18-year-old-girl identified as Ruma on the spot, he said, adding that two other women working in the field were also injured in the mishap.

The name of the pilot has not been given out as yet, the DIG said. An IAF team had reached the mishap spot and had taken away the pilot's body, he said.

On Tuesday, a MiG-21 fighter aircraft crashed while landing at Naal airfield in Rajasthan's Bikaner district, killing the pilot.

On February 4, a MiG-21 'Bison' fighter plane had crashed apparently due to an engine problem while on a routine sortie in Madhya Pradesh's Sheopur district but the pilot had ejected safely.

In 2010, a total of 10 IAF aircraft crashes took place including four MiG-27 and two MiG-21 planes.

Defence minister AK Antony had said in Lok Sabha on Monday that 24 fighter aircraft accidents have taken place in the last three years, in which four service personnel and five civilians lost their lives.

Of these accidents, 23% were due to human error, according to him.