IAF's Jaguar jet crashes near Bhuj, pilot safe

The Indian Air Force on Friday lost a Jaguar combat aircraft in a crash near Bibber village in Kutch district of Gujarat while on a routine sortie from Bhuj air base.

The pilot managed to eject safely.

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

"The pilot ejected safely and is unhurt 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.

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.

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