Fighter aircraft crashes: pilot, co-pilot safe

Tezpur, May 19 : A Sukhoi-30 fighter aircraft today crashed at Laokhowa in Nagaon district of Assam with both the pilot and co-pilot ejecting safely. The Su-30 fighter aircraft, flying from Tezpur’s Salanibari Air Force station on a routine sortie, lost connection with the radar at the airforce station at around 12.30 PM and crashed thereafter, a Defence spokesman said here. The aircraft had developed a technical problem and the pilot was forced to abandon the aircraft, he said. Both the pilots ejected safely and the aircraft crashed at Laokhowa near here. A Court of Inquiry has been ordered to ascertain the cause of the accident, the spokesman added.