An Indian Air Force (IAF) MiG-21 fighter aircraft crashed near Moga in Punjab late Thursday night. As per the IAF, pilot Sqn Ldr Abhinav Choudhary sustained fatal injuries in the crash.
“There was an aircraft accident last night involving a Bison aircraft of IAF in the western sector. The pilot, Sqn Ldr Abhinav Choudhary, sustained fatal injuries. IAF condoles the tragic loss and stands firmly with the bereaved family,” read an IAF statement.
A Court of Inquiry has been ordered to ascertain the cause of the accident involving a Bison aircraft of IAF in western sector, it added.
The aircraft was on a routine training sortie when the accident happened, IAF officials told news agency ANI.
Following the incident, Moga SP (HQ) Gurdeep Singh said, “Pilot was @IAF_MCC Squadron leader Abhinav Chaudhary. His body was found 2-km away from the crash spot after a search of 4 hours. The parachute was found open and SOS was also sent from his device but he had died by then.”
“As per IAF officials, the jet had taken off from Suratgarh in Rajasthan for Jagraon (in Ludhiana) for night training purposes. The pilot was returning to Suratgarh when it crashed in Moga on way back,” Singh added.
He also confirmed that no other loss of life has been reported. “It was an unfortunate incident as we could not save the pilot but luckily the fighter jet crashed into open fields. There is no other loss of life and residents of village Langeana Nawan are safe. No house damaged.”
Third accident involving MIG-21 this year
This is the third accident involving the MiG-21 this year. In March, a Air Force Group Captain A Gupta died when the aircraft was taking off for a combat training mission.
Earlier this year, in January, the IAF had reported a MiG-21 aircraft crash during near Suratgarh in Rajasthan. The aircraft had developed a major technical malfunction during a training sortie in the western sector, the IAF had said.
The Bison is the upgraded version of the MiG 21 Biz. While, most of the MiG-21, which have been in service since the early 1969s, have been retired, three squadrons remain in service. These, too, are expected to be decommissioned in the next 2-3 years.
