Sikkim: Indian Air Force's Jaguar jet crashes near Mangan

New Delhi: A Jaguar jet of the Indian Air Force crashed near Mangan in Sikkim on Friday. The aircraft was reportedly on a routine sortie of the border area when it crashed.

The aircraft had taken off from the Hashimara airbase on Friday morning. Both the pilots ejected from the plane and one of them was rescued by the villagers living near the crash site.

The fate of the other pilot remained unknown. No casualties were reported.

The aircraft was reportedly on a routine sortie of the border area. No casualties have been reported yet.

According to eyewitnesses, there was a loud bang before the pilot bailed out. Local people reached the crash site at around 3:00 pm and took the injured pilot to a school at Lik, Colonel Gurung of 27 Mountain Division stationed in North Sikkim said.

Since the area did not have roads two helicopters were sent from the Hashimara airbase to land at the school grounds to evacuate the injured pilot, but they could not do so, he said.

The pilot was then taken from the school on foot by rescuers comprising local people, police and army personnel to Passinggang on the North Sikkim Highway, he said. The fire, which broke out in the wreckage of the aircraft, was controlled, Col Gurung said.

"A court of inquiry has been ordered into the crash," IAF Group Captain Amit Mahajan told PTI in Shillong.

With additional information from PTI

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