BSF aircraft crash: The last minutes

Dwarka, Dec 23: All the 10 aboard the ill-fated plane did not know what lay in their fate that day. Prepared for hard-end battles and ready to lay their lives for anything that risked the country, little did they know that the cause of their death would be a tree.

While all 10 were charred to death in the 11-seated plane that crashed near Dwarka at 9:40 am on Tuesday, officials analyse that a technical snag forced the pilot to turn back toward the airport after taking off. However, the plane hit the tree and crashed.

The details of the last few minutes have been released. After noticing the snag, the captain of the plane Captain Bhagwati Prasad Bhatt, and co-pilot, Captain Rajesh Shivrain sought the ATC's permission to make an emergency landing. After getting clearance, the plane turned, but hit a tree. It skidding on the road for some time and then crashed into the sewerage treatment plant at the IGI airport.

The plane, after reaching 1,700 feet, lost contact with the ATC, which takes over automatically when airbound. A BSF officer explains,"After gaining altitude, the plane lost contact with the ATC and tried to make an emergency landing. The ATC diverted several flights as the BSF aircraft was looking to land."

Eyewitnesses provide ghory details about the accident. The plant workers reveal that the explosion sounded more like a bomb blast, but none were majorly hurt. Another eyewitness, a security guard in the area, said that he found two charred bodies inside the plane, while the others were inside the water tank.

Incidentally, this was the same plane that ferried officials for a recent conference of DGs in Rann of Kutch.

[Read: BSF aircraft crash: Co-pilot's 5-year-old daughter kept waiting for dad at school]

OneIndia News