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21 killed in IAF crash

At least 21 people, including 18 Indian Air Force personnel on board and three civilians, were killed when an IAF transport aircraft crashed near the Indira Gandhi international airport on Sunday.

According to UNI correspondents who visited the spot and eyewitnesses, the Russian-built AN-32 cargo plane, which was on its way to the capital from Agra via the Gwalior air base, hit a water tank under construction in the residential locality of Pappan Kalan near the airport before crashing and immediately burst into flames.

While initial reports said poor visibility, which probably reduced to the bare minimum at the time of the crash, was the cause of the crash, a statutory court of inquiry had been ordered by the IAF to establish the cause for the disaster.

According to air traffic control tower sources the plane was given permission to land, but it suddenly lost touch with ground control and disappeared from the radar screen, crashing soon after.

The plane, which took off from Agra with 10 people on board, including four crew members, picked up eight more passengers from the Gwalior air base.

The crash led to a nearby jhuggi cluster catching fire and three residents were killed while seven injured were rushed to the Deen Dayal Upadhay hospital in west Delhi.

Flight Lieutenant Mohit Abrol, the plane's pilot, was among those killed.

Retired Air Marshal Denzil Keeler blamed construction activity around the airport as a contributory factor for the crash. He said aircraft faced difficulty while approaching the runway because of the construction in the vicinity of the airport.

The AN-32 aircraft has a good track record and is considered to be ''quite reliable and stable,'' IAF sources said.

The crash took place even as the IAF's annual demonstration exercise, Vayu Shakti, was on at Pokhran in the Rajasthan desert.

UNI

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