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A chartered plane carrying actor-turned-politician Sunil Dutt and four others, three of them teenaged girls, crashlanded in a field at Bahaduri village in Nasik district, 93 kms from Bombay, Tuesday night injuring all of them and the pilot, official sources said in Bombay on Tuesday.
The Piper Apache six-seater aircraft of Ahmedabad Aviation Academy lost control following engine failure and crashlanded at 2310 hrs, the sources said.
The 71-year-old Congress leader and MP, Dutt, who received injuries on his shoulder and legs, was flown to Bombay from Nashik Tuesday morning and was admitted to Breach Candy hospital.
Pilot Capt Sohail Handa, who received injuries on his face, was in serious condition at Lifeline hospital in Nashik.
The other injured admitted to Lifeline Hospital were Neha Patel (19), Snehal Patel (16), Disha Patel (13), all members of a family, and Poornima Nair (40).
Dutt was returning after attending a function at Shivpur near Indore after the commissioning of a gold refinery when the crash occurred.
According to Air Traffic Control in Bombay, a watchman from Ojhar, near Nashik, was reported to have seen the twin-engine plane going down with navigation lights on.
It said an overflying aircraft also heard the pilot of the plane reporting that the aircraft's engine had shut down.
The ATC said a search party was immediately sent to the scene.
Locals pulled out the injured from the plane and rushed them to hospital.
Dutt was brought out on a stretcher after his helicopter landed at Raj Bhavan helipad.
Later, accompanied by his daughter Priya, Dutt was rushed to Breach Candy in an ambulance.
Several Congress leaders, including MPCC chief Murli Deora were present at Raj Bhavan to meet the MP, while Maharashtra minister of state for home Kripa Shankar Singh accompanied him to the city in the helicopter from Nashik.
PTI
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