'Exploded multiple times after crash, fire was too big': Eyewitness on Ajit Pawar plane tragedy

Ajit Pawar was killed on Wednesday morning when a chartered Learjet 45 crash-landed while attempting to land at Baramati airport in Maharashtra, erupting into flames and killing all five people on board, according to an initial occurrence report issued by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

The aircraft, operated by VSR and registered as VT-SSK, was on final descent when it appeared to lose control during landing, slammed into the ground and exploded. None of the passengers or crew survived, the aviation regulator said.

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Eyewitnesses near the airport described the final moments before the crash in chilling detail. A woman who saw the aircraft said it appeared “a bit unstable in the air” as it circled the Baramati airport before attempting to land.

“It took a round in the air, appeared a bit unstable and as it was approaching the runway to land, it hit the ground hard and exploded. There was a loud sound which could be heard at our home,” she told a news channel.

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She said several parts of the aircraft were hurled into the air after the explosion and landed near her house. “The plane tilted before coming down. We saw the explosion and it was frightening,” she said.

Another eyewitness said the aircraft appeared to be losing control as it descended. “The way the plane was coming down, we felt it was going to crash. It was around 100 feet above the runway. As we rushed towards it, we saw flames, followed by four to five consecutive blasts, which prevented us from going anywhere near the aircraft,” he told reporters. “It was a major fire. We later learned that Pawar was on the aircraft. It was shocking for us,” he added.

According to FlightRadar data, the aircraft took off from Mumbai at 8.10 am and disappeared from radar around 8.45 am. The crash occurred at approximately 8.50 am near Baramati in Pune district.

Officials said there were five people on board, including two crew members — the Pilot-in-Command and the First Officer. The passengers included Pawar, 66, along with a personal security officer and an attendant.

Superintendent of Police Sandip Singh Gill said a fire broke out immediately after the crash. “People onboard were immediately taken to the hospital,” he said, though none survived.

Pawar was travelling from Mumbai to Baramati to address public meetings as part of the campaign for the February 5 zilla parishad elections.

Emergency services rushed to the site soon after the crash as thick smoke and flames engulfed the wreckage. Authorities cordoned off the area while aviation officials began preliminary assessments to determine what went wrong during the landing — one of the most critical phases of flight.

A career that shaped Maharashtra politics

Ajit Pawar was among Maharashtra’s most powerful and polarising political figures. A six-time Deputy Chief Minister under different governments, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader wielded outsized influence in state politics for more than three decades and remained the undisputed strongman of Baramati.

The nephew of NCP founder Sharad Pawar, his career mirrored both continuity and rupture within the Pawar family. He entered public life in 1982 after being elected to the board of a cooperative sugar factory, before becoming chairman of the Pune District Central Cooperative Bank in 1991.

That year, he was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Baramati constituency, later vacating the seat for his uncle. He went on to win the Baramati Assembly seat seven times — beginning with a 1991 by-election and subsequently in 1995, 1999, 2004, 2009 and 2014 — entrenching his dominance in the region.

In November 2019, Pawar triggered a political earthquake by splitting the NCP and briefly forming a government with the Bharatiya Janata Party. The party’s formal division was sealed in February 2024 when the Election Commission awarded the NCP name and symbol to the faction led by him.

He is survived by his wife Sunetra Pawar, a Rajya Sabha MP since 2024, and their two sons, Parth and Jay Pawar.