Both pilots on board the Indian Air Force's fighter jet were killed when it crashed in Bhanuda village, Churu district, Rajasthan, on Wednesday.
According to reports, the body of one of the pilots was found in the wreckage. Officials from the Rajaldesar police station in Bhanoda village, Ratangarh Tehsil, and IAF choppers rushed to the crash site.
The aircraft was a twin-seater trainer version of the Jaguar fighter aircraft of the Indian Air Force. It had taken off at 1.25 pm from Suratgarh air base with two pilots on board.
The IAF has not released the names of the deceased pilots yet, but said that the aircraft met with an accident during a routine training mission and crashed.
Local residents said a loud noise was heard and they saw flames and smoke rising from the fields. They rushed to extinguish the fire in the fields on their own.
The Air Force has several bases in Rajasthan, including one in Jodhpur and another in Bikaner.
Rescue teams are on-site and emergency protocols have been activated.
This is the third Jaguar fighter jet crash this year. Earlier, on March 7, a Jaguar had crashed in Haryana's Panchkula and another one crashed on April 2 wherein a two-seater Jaguar aircraft of the IAF crashed during a night mission briefly after taking off from Jamnagar Airfield in Gujarat.
According to the Indian Air Force, the pilots had encountered a technical malfunction mid-flight and ejected to avoid damage to the airfield and nearby populated areas.
One of the IAF pilot Siddharth Yadav tragically succumbed to injuries sustained during the ejection, while the second pilot was injured in the incident.
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