MiG-27 crashes at Pokhran firing range in Rajasthan's Jaisalmer during training mission; IAF says pilot ejected safely

New Delhi: A MiG-27 aircraft airborne on a training mission from Jaisalmer crashed at the Pokharan firing range on Tuesday evening. The pilot of the crashed Mig 27 jet ejected safely."The MiG-27 was on a training mission. After taking off from Jaisalmer airbase around 6.10 pm, it crashed near Pokhran Range. The Pilot ejected safely," an Indian Air Force (IAF) spokesperson said.[caption id="attachment_6073721" align="alignleft" width="380"]

Representational image. ANI[/caption]"A Court of Inquiry will investigate the cause of the accident," he added.IAF is going to conduct the Exercise Vayushakti at the Pokharan firing range four days from now.The accident occurred on a day when Air Force Vice Chief Air Marshal Anil Khosla expressed sympathy with the family of the pilots Squardon Leaders Siddhartha Negi and Samir Abrol who lost their lives in a Mirage 2000 crash at the Bengaluru airport."We lost two young pilots in the Mirage 2000 crash, we all need to pray their souls rest in peace," he said.Khosla said the Air Force will look at all aspects of the Mirage 2000 crash and "will not comment on who is at fault till the inquiry is over... We consider every accident as one too many".Seeking to do away with apprehensions on flight safety, he said that compared to flying, he found that the road traffic was more risk-prone.