MiG-21 crashes in Punjab, pilot ejects

Pilot Flight Lieutenant  Arnav Ghosh ejected safely after tactfully manoeuvring the aircraft away from the busy national highway and civilian areas, including an educational institute, in close vicinity.

No civilian causality has been reported. The plane crashed less than 100 metres away from the national highway in the fields. Earlier this month on August 2, a MiG-21 crashed in Bikaner soon after taking off from an airfield in Rajasthan’s Bikaner district.

The pilot was killed in the crash. Even as the Air Force has set up an inquiry to ascertain the reasons of the crash, sources said the aircraft lost balance and altitude owning to a technical snag. It has also come to fore that the aircraft which was on a routine sortie from the airbase in the Amabala cantonment in Haryana was recently upgraded with the help of Israel technologists. 

Fortunately, there were no farmers in the fields at the time the plane crashed.

The entire area was cordoned off after local and air force officials reached the crash site. The single-engine MiG-21s, dubbed flying coffins, have a history of crashes. In the last three years, around 42 accidents of Indian Air Force (IAF) aircraft have taken place, killing 17 pilots .