IAF’s Sukhoi, Mirage aircraft crash in MP’s Morena; one pilot killed

Tragedy struck the Indian Air Force on Saturday when two of its front line combat jets – a Su-30 MKI and a Mirage-2000 – crashed killing Wg Cdr Hanumanth Rao Sarathi, the pilot of Mirage-2000, minutes after taking-off from the Gwalior Air Base while the two pilots in the Su-30 ejected safely.

The French origin Mirage-2000 crashed at Morena in Madhya Pradesh while the Russian Su-30 was in the air probably for a couple of more minutes before going down at the adjoining Bharatpur district of Rajasthan as the pilots managed to eject at the nick of time.

A Court of Inquiry set up by the IAF after the crash would, among other things, investigate whether there was a mid-air collision.