IAF's Jaguar plane crashes near Bhuj, pilot ejects safely

KUTCH (GUJ): A Jaguar combat aircraft of Indian Air Force today crashed near Bibber village in this district while on a routine sortie from Bhuj air base but the pilot ejected safely.

"A Jaguar fighter jet which had taken off from Bhuj air base for a routine sortie crashed near Bibber village, which is 30 kms from the base," an IAF official said.

"The pilot ejected safely and is not hurt in the mishap," he said.

Superintendent of Police, Kutch West, D N Patel said, "We have learnt that a fighter jet crashed near Bibber village of Nakhatrana taluka of Kutch. However, no casualty is reported.

"The pilot is safe," he said. In 2013, two MIG-29 fighter planes had crashed in June and July near Gujarat's Jamnagar air base.

Twenty IAF fighter aircraft have met with accidents in the last three years, with human error and technical defects being the main reasons.

These planes are eight MiG-21s (different versions), four Jaguars, three MiG-29s, two Sukhoi SU-30MKIs, two Mirage 2000s and one MiG 27 ML.