MiG-23 crashes near Jodhpur, wreckage of chopper, bodies found in Arunachal

Itanagar/Jaipur, July 6 (IANS) The IAF on Thursday saw another accident - of a MiG-23 UB trainer that crashed in Rajasthan, even as the wreckage and bodies of three personnel from an IAF chopper that crashed in Arunachal Pradesh were recovered.

The two pilots in the MiG-23 trainer ejected safely as the aircraft crashed near Balesar village in Rajasthan's Jodhpur district around 11.30 a.m, official sources said.

The Advanced Light Helicopter which crashed on Tuesday in Arunachal Pradesh was a part of flood relief operations and went missing at 3.50 p.m. that day after it took off from Pilputu Helipad near Sagalee for Naharlagun heliport.

A defence statement said the Arunachal Pradesh Police team spotted the wreckage on Wednesday evening during the search by a joint rescue team of Army, the National Disaster Response Force, police and the Indian Air Force.

On Thursday morning, rescue parties comprising IAF's Garud commandos and a medical team, Army, NDRF were able to reach the crash site along with an Arunachal Pradesh Police team that had sighted the wreckage.

"The bodies of three personnel have been recovered so far," said the statement.

A court of Inquiry has been ordered in both incidents.

On May 23, an Indian Air Force Su-30 jet had crashed about 172 km from the India-China border in Arunachal Pradesh. The wreckage could be found only after a week, and the two pilots who were on board were declared dead on May 31.

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