Jaguar fighter aircraft crashes, pilot, girl killed

Mau (UP), Aug 4 (PTI) A Jaguar fighter aircraft
Thursday crashed in north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh,
killing its pilot and a girl working in a field, the second
Indian Air Force (IAF) plane to meet with an accident this
week.
The single-seater plane of the IAF burst into flames
soon after the crash, DIG, Azamgarh range, L.Ravikumar said.
The pilot and a girl working in a field in Dilahi
Firozpur village in this district were killed in the accident,
he said.
The Jaguar, a deep penetration strike aircraft, had
taken off from Gorakhpur airbase in UP, IAF sources said in
Delhi.
On Tuesday, a MiG-21 fighter aircraft crashed while
landing at Naal airfield in north Indian state Rajasthan's
Bikaner district, killing the pilot.
On February 4, a MiG-21 'Bison' fighter plane had
crashed apparently due to an engine problem while on a routine
sortie in Madhya Pradesh's Sheopur district but the pilot had
ejected safely.
In 2010, a total of 10 IAF aircraft crashes took place
including four MiG-27 and two MiG-21 planes.
India's Defence Minister A K Antony had said in Lok
Sabha on Monday that 24 fighter aircraft accidents have taken
place in the last three years, in which four service personnel
and five civilians lost their lives.
Of these accidents, 23 per cent were due to human
error, according to him. PTI CORR