Both the pilots of the Indian Air Force (IAF) Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jet were killed after the ill-fated aeroplane crashed in Assam's Jorhat district on Thursday night, March 5. The pilots were identified as Squadron Leader Anuj and Flight Lieutenant Purvesh Duragkar, said the Air Force in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
"All personnel of the IAF express sincere condolences, and stand firmly with the bereaved family in this time of grief," the Air Force wrote on X while sharing pictures of pilots who died in the crash.
According to IAF, the Su-30 MKI was on a training mission and had lost its altitude suddenly and gone missing after taking off from the Jorhat airbase, about 60 km from where it crashed. Communication with the highly equipped Russia-made fighter jet was lost at 7:42 pm.
The Su-30 MKI is a two-seater, multirole, long-range fighter jet developed by Russian aircraft manufacturer Sukhoi. It is now built under license by state-run aerospace major Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for the IAF. The IAF operates a fleet of over 260 Su-30 MKI jets.