IAF MiG-21 crashes in Rajasthan, pilot safe

NEW DELHI: An Indian Air Force's MiG-21 crashed Friday near Nal in Rajasthan. The pilot ejected and is reportedly safe.

A Court of Inquiry will be set up to investigate the cause of the accident.

Bikaner SP Pradeep Mohan Sharma said the MIG aircraft crashed in Shobhasar ki Dhani, 12 km from Bikaner city.

IAF spokesperson Group Captain Anupam Banerjee said initial inputs indicated the likely cause as bird hit after take off.

He said police teams have rushed the spot to cordon off the area. No loss of life has been reported

The unfortunate incident comes after a crash of an Indian Air Force Mi-17 V5 helicopter near Srinagar on February 27, resulting in deaths of all six airmen onboard and a citizen on ground.

Slew of crashes
On February 1, 2019, a Mirage 2000 jet crashed at HAL airport, Bengaluru., resulting in the death of two IAF pilots.

A MiG 27 crashed near Jodhpur's Banad area on September 4, 2018.

On June 5, 2018, Air Commodore Sanjay Chauhan passed away after his Jaguar fighter plane went down in the Mundra taluk of the Kutch region in northwestern Gujarat. This was the second alarming incident in the month of June 2018 with an Indian Air Force Jaguar.

A Sukhoi 30 MKI fighter jet has crashed near Nashik in Maharashtra on June 27, 2018.

On June 8, 2018, Indian Air Force's 'Jaguar' developed a snag while landing and had a minor accident. The pilot was on a routine training mission from the Jamnagar Air Force base.

Before these two successive Jaguar crashes, an IAF Cheetah helicopter crash landed at Natha Top in Jammu and Kashmir on May 23. The helicopter, too, was on a routine sortie and a court of inquiry was ordered.

On March 20 this year, an Advanced Hawk Jet (AJT) trainer, crashed on the Subarnarekha River bed along Jharkhand and Odisha's border.

(With PTI inputs)