Two Indian Air Force pilots were killed when a two-sitter micro-light-aircraft they were traveling in crashed on Thursday in Majuli.
Defence officials said the accident took place at around 1.30 pm at a sand bar near Punoimari village of the river island minutes after the aircraft with two pilots on-board took off from Jorhat air force station.
Defence spokesmen Tezpur 4 crops Lt Col Harsh Wardhan Pande said that the micro-light aircraft of IAF had been flying from Jorhat air force station for a routine practice and crashed took place near a village in Majuli .
The two killed pilots have been identified as Wing Commander Jai Paul James and Wing Commander D Vats, Pande said.
The reason behind the crash is yet to be ascertained. A Court of Inquiry has been ordered to ascertain the cause of the accident.
According to the eye witness the ill-fated chopper reduced to ashes following the mishap.
“We heard something like a rumbling of the earth. When we rushed out there, we saw a blaze and black smoke,” said a local resident. Local officials confirmed the crash site was not a residential area.
Earlier in October 2017 an Indian Air Force chopper had crashed near Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh killing all seven people on-board.
Five IAF crew members and two Army jawans on-board the Mil Mi-17 helicopter killed when the crash took place.
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