Rajasthan: Fighter jet crashes near Bikaner, pilot ejects safely

Bikaner, Mar 08: A MIG-21 jet of the Indian Air Force crashed in Rajasthan's Bikaner on Friday afternoon. The plane crashed after it reportedly suffered a bird hit.

News agency PTI, quoting Bikaner's superintendent of police, reported that the MiG-21 jet crashed in Bikaner's Shoba Sar ki Dhani area. A Court of Inquiry has been instituted to look into the accident.

A statement by the IAF said that the MiG-21 had taken off from the Indian Air Force's Nal airbase in Rajasthan and that it was on a routine mission.

The IAF statement said, "Today afternoon a MiG-21 aircraft on a routine mission crashed after getting airborne from Nal near Bikaner. Initial inputs indicate the likely cause as bird hit after take off. Pilot of the aircraft ejected safely. A CoI [Court of Inquiry] will investigate the cause of the accident."

The crash comes days after a fighter jet crashed in Jammu and Kashmir's Budgam district, killing two pilots and four others onboard, besides a local.

A few days back, IAF Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman's MiG 21 had also crashed after a dogfight with an F-16 fighter jet of Pakistan Air Force, after which he was taken into custody by the Pakistani army. Abhinandan was released to India after 70 hours of detention in Pakistan.

On February 1, 2019, a Mirage 2000 jet crashed at HAL airport, Bengaluru., resulting in the death of two IAF pilots.