5 IAF personnel killed in Assam plane crash

At least five Indian Air Force (IAF) personnel, including two officers, were killed after a military transport aircraft crashed while landing at the airbase in Assam’s Jorhat on Saturday, authorities said.

- Biswa Kalyan Purkayastha

The air force said the medium transport An-32 aircraft “met with an accident during a routine sortie” at around 10 in the morning. “The IAF deeply regrets the loss of lives and stands firmly with the bereaved families in this time of grief,” it said in a post on X.

The air force did not specify the cause of the crash and said that “crash site management and initial enquiries” were ongoing. News agency PTI quoted unnamed officials as saying that the aircraft lost control upon touchdown and skidded off the runway. It then crossed the parallel taxiway and broke into two sections before being engulfed in flames. Images from the crash site showed a thick black plume of smoke, the snapped wings and fuselage of the aircraft.

The IAF identified those killed in the crash as Squadron Leader Prashant Singh, Flight Lieutenant Shubham Kumar, Sergeant Jitendra Sharma, Agniveervayu Khemaram Kumawat and Agniveervayu Danish Alam. Officials said these were the first reported deaths of IAF personnel recruited under the Agniveer scheme.