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Indian air force Mig-21 crashes, pilots survive

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-06-19 14:00

NEW DELHI: An Mig-21 fighter aircraft of the Indian Air Force crashed Thursday soon after it took off from an air base in Assam, northeast India, reported the Indo-Asian News Service.

However, the two pilots managed to eject safely, the news service quoted Indian officials as saying.

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The aircraft caught fire after it plunged into a pond near a tea garden in a village in the Dibrugarh district, about 520 km east of Assam's main city of Guwahati, said the news service.

The aircraft was supposed to be on a routine training-flying mission when the accident took place.

On May 27, another Indian air force Mig-21 fighter crashed at Jodhpur in the western state of Rajasthan. The pilot managed to eject safely.