Su-30 wreckage found

The wreckage of Su-30 MKI fighter jet was found in a thickly forested area in Assam, 48 hours after it had gone missing.

The IAF has also ordered a court of inquiry to probe the cause of the accident.The debris was located 60 km north-west of Tezpur of the state from where the airfract went missing.

The search parties are yet to reach the location as the area near Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border is inaccessible by foot. Men could not be heli-dropped near the crash site on Friday due to bad weather.

“The wreckage was located in the area where the jet lost contact with the base. The ground parties are on a standby to be airlifted to the site. The search for the two missing crew and the flight data recorder will be pursued once they reach the site,” said an Indian Air Force (IAF) spokesperson here.

The attempts to trek cross-country by the Indian Army’s search parties have also been hampered due to poor weather, coupled with thick vegetation and steeper terrain.

On Tuesday, the Su-30 MKI aircraft was airborne from Tezpur on a training mission. At 11.10 am, it lost the radar and radio contact with the ground station. It was flying in formation with another aircraft that returned to the base.

While the search and rescue operation for the aircraft and the missing crew was initiated within hours, it was hampered by incessant rain and dense clouds. Ground searches by the IAF, army and state administration also failed to make progress in the last two days.

“A court of inquiry has been ordered to investigate the cause of the accident,” said the IAF spokesperson. The Tezpur incident is the eighth crash of the Su-30 MKI fighters in the last eight years. Since 2009, there has been an accident involving the aircraft every alternate year.