A shockwave was felt across the region on Wednesday afternoon when one of the Indian Air Force (IAF) fighter aircraft went down shortly after 1:25 PM, crash-landing near Banoda village in the Churu district of Rajasthan. Rajaldesar Station House Officer (SHO) Kamlesh said the aircraft crashed in the farm field, wrecking a trail of destruction.
Early reports at the scene of the crash are that it has ended tragically as human body parts have been reported scattered around the wreckage, implying that the pilot or the crew members might not have survived the crash. The identification of the people on board and additional information needed about the casualties is yet to be verified.
Indian Air Force (IAF) officers, together with other emergency response teams such as local police and even rescue workers, have been flocking to the scene. A cordon has been set up around the site of the crash to secure the site during rescue and investigation activities. The Indian Air Force should provide an official statement once initial evaluations have been run.
This is the second tragic occurrence, which happens only three months after, when a similar occurrence takes place in April, whereby a two-seater Jaguar aircraft of the IAF crashes a few minutes after it has taken off from the Jamnagar Airfield in Gujarat as part of a routine training exercise at night. There, the pilots were lucky as they were able to escape by ejection when some unexpected technical failure occurred during the flight. This split-second decision to eject saved a bigger disaster and possible damage to surrounding civilian locations.
The frequency of such accidents casts doubts concerning the safety of operation and the technical condition of the old fleet of Indian fighter jets. Professionals have frequently stressed the modernisation of planes and the revision of their maintenance procedures as an urgent measure to provide safety to aviators.
Amid ongoing investigations to establish what occurred in the Churu crash, the country is looking forward to learn what has happened and the measures that will be taken to avoid the occurrences of such tragedies in future.
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