IAF's Jaguar fighter aircraft crashes in Gujarat's Jamnagar; 1 pilot ejects safely, search on for another

A Jaguar fighter aircraft of Indian Air Force, which was on a training mission, crashed in Gujarat's Jamnagar on Wednesday.

The incident took place at around 9:30 pm in an open field at Suvarda village, nearly 12km from Jamnagar city and caught fire.

One of the pilots ejected safely but suffered injures, while the second pilot was missing as he failed to exit the jet in time.

Following the crash, a large cloud of smoke engulfed the entire area. Several burning pieces and debris from the plane could be seen scattered on the ground in the video, which surfaced online.

"There were two pilots in the (Jaguar) trainer aircraft of the Air Force. One has been rescued and taken to the government-run GG Hospital in the city and his condition was stated to be stable. Operations are underway to rescue the other pilot," said SP Premsukh Delu.

Locals gathered at the site and the pilot, who was injured, was seen lying on the ground. The cause of the crash is yet to be ascertained

Following the incident, district collector Ketan Thakkar also rushed to the spot. He said the fire in the open field triggered by the crash was doused by firefighters.

Similar incidents

A month ago, Jaguar fighter jet crashed near Haryana's Panchkula due to a system malfunction. In that incident too the pilot managed to steer the aircraft away from populated areas before ejecting safely. The aircraft had taken off from the Ambala airbase on a training sortie.

On 7 March, an Indian Air Force plane, an AN-32 transport aircraft, was involved in a ‘serious incident’ in West Bengal's Bagdogra.

Earlier in February, a Mirage-2000 fighter aircraft of the Indian Air Force crashed in an agriculture field in Madhya Pradesh's Shivpuri district after developing a snag. The twin-seater trainer aircraft caught fire after crashing in an agriculture field near Barheta Sani village.

In September 2024, A MiG-29 aircraft of the IAF crashed in Rajasthan's Barmer district..