One pilot has died after two Indian Air Force fighter jets crashed in a mid-air collision in central India.
The planes were on a routine “operational flying training mission” when the incident happened, the Indian Air Force (IAF) said in a statement. The air force has ordered an inquiry to determine the cause of the crash.
The crash involved a Russian-made Sukhoi Su-30 carrying two pilots, and a French-built Mirage 2000, flown by one pilot.
Both aircraft had taken off on Saturday morning from the Gwalior airbase.
Local media reports said that the wreckage of one plane was found in Bharatpur in Rajasthan and the other in the forest in Morena in the neighboring Madhya Pradesh.
Police officer Dharmender Gaur said that a pilot had been found injured but alive in the forests of Padargarh. “The other plane has likely fallen further away from the site and we have sent teams to locate it.”
India has a history of fatal military crashes owing to its aging fleet. In December 2021, India’s defense chief, General Bipin Rawat, was among 13 people killed when his Russian-made Mi-17 helicopter crashed.