Twentyone defence air accidents claim 14 lives in last one year

New Delhi, Feb 23 (UNI) As many as 13 aircraft and eight helicopters of the Defence forces have crashed during the last one year(January 2005 to January 2006), and 13 defence personnel and one civilian were killed in these accident.

Giving this information in a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Defence Minister Pranab Kumar Mukherjee today said compensation to next of kin of the defence personnel had been paid and an ex-gratia payment of Rs one lakh made to the dependents of the civilian killed in one of the accidents.

The Minister said a continuous and multi-faceted effort was underway in the Defence Forces to enhance and upgrade flight safety.

Besides measures to enhance the quality of training to improve the skill level, ability to exercise sound judgement and situational awareness of pilots were being pursued, he said.

Constant interaction with Original Equipment Manufacturers(OEMs), both indigenous and foreign, are also maintained to overcome technical defect of aircraft, said the Minister.

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