Small Indian paramilitary plane carrying at least 10 crashes

After Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday attended the wreath-laying ceremony for the ten Border Security Force (BSF) personnel killed in a plane crash on Tuesday, a relative of one of the victims asked the Home Minister why only a soldier’s family had to cry every time.

Sources said the pilot noticed the technical issue minutes after taking off at 9.45 but avoided the Delhi-Ahmadabad Ashram Express that was passing through a nearby railway crossing and other residential areas to avoid more casualties. There were two pilots on board the plane that crashed at Shahbad Mohammadpur village.

According to BSF official statement, aircraft was Ranchi-bound BSF Superking carrying technicians. They said that there was huge fire seen in the area after the crash.

“It then crash landed hitting the periphery of the airport, then dragged on smashing through a portion of the boundary wall”, they cited. The BSF charter plane was carrying technicians on way to fix a helicopter in Naxal-hit Jharkhand.

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi in a tweet, stated, “Extremely unhappy to study of the BSF aircraft crash close to Delhi airport”. I saw two bodies.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was pained by the loss of lives.

He asserted that the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and BSF’s internal enquiry team is probing the matter. “There were some labourers working on the ground where the plane fell”, he said. Home Minister Rajnath Singh rushed to the spot to take care of the rescue services and briefed the Prime Minister about the accident.

Brothers Harsh and Aatish, students at a high school in Shahabad Mohanmadpur, who cycled to the site, said, their class was informed of the crash by a teacher, “But, we did not feel afraid, though, we feel sad for the family of the victims”. Initial probe says the Beechcraft Super King B-200 (VT-BSA) lost engine power due to a snag, but the exact cause of the crash is still unknown. The plane, which was to return to Delhi the same evening, was ferrying the BSF’s technical personnel to Ranchi where they were assigned to fix a Mi-17 V5 chopper that was engaged in anti-naxal operations. “The mode of conveyance was only recently decided as Mi-17 had scheduled servicing”, a BSF official told MAIL TODAY.