Missing Sukhoi-30 jet’s wreckage found, IAF orders inquiry
GUWAHATI: The wreckage of the Sukhoi-30 jet that went missing with two pilots was located on Friday on the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border after a three-day search operation.
“Bad weather in the area is hampering the operation. The fate of the two pilots is not known yet,” said defence spokesperson Lt Col Sombit Ghosh. He told HT that the wreckage has been located near the coordinates, about 60 km north of Tezpur town in north-central Assam, where the last contact with the fighter aircraft was made.
Meanwhile, the Indian Air Force on Friday ordered a court of inquiry into the accident.
“A court of inquiry has been ordered to investigate the cause of the accident,” IAF spokesperson Wing Commander Anupam Banerjee said here Tezpur is one of the three IAF air bases in the country that host the Sukhois.
The Su-30 jet took off from the IAF Tezpur air base, located about 172 km from the India-China border in Arunachal Pradesh around 9.30 am on a routine training mission on May 23.
It lost radar and radio contact with the controlling station around 11.10 am near Arunachal Pradesh’s Doulasang area, an area adjoining China, 60 km north of Tezpur.
Last year, a Sukhoi-30MKI crashed near Nagaon town of Assam during a routine sortie. While the two pilots ejected safely, some locals suffered splinter injuries in the crash.