The Indian Navy said on Friday that a MiG-29K trainer aircraft, which was operating in the Arabian sea, crashed at around 5 pm on Thursday. While one pilot has been rescued, a search operation has been launched for the second pilot who has been missing since last evening.
The search operation is in progress by air and surface units, the Indian Navy said and went on to add that an inquiry has been ordered to investigate the crash of MiG-29K trainer aircraft.
“A MiG-29K trainer aircraft operating at sea ditched at about 1700 hrs on 26 Nov 20. One pilot has been recovered and search by air and surface units is in progress for the second pilot. An inquiry has been ordered to investigate the incident,” the Indian Navy said in a statement.
MiG-29 aircraft operate from aircraft carrier INS ‘Vikramaditya’. In the recently concluded Malabar exercise, where navies of India, USA, Australia and Japan participated, MiG-29s were seen in action.
In February this year, an Indian Navy MiG aircraft crashed while conducting a routine sortie in Goa. The MiG-29K aircraft was conducting a routine training sortie off the coast of Goa when it crashed at around 10.30 am.
The pilot of the aircraft ejected safely and was rescued.
The twin-engine, single-seater aircraft developed a “technical snag” due to which it crashed. The aircraft had flown from the INS Hansa base at Vasco in South Goa.
