Engine failure: Jaguar crashes into houses after take-off, 4 dead

Residents of Durgiana Colony — where the plane crashed — believe at least 10 persons may have died in the two houses which were flattened by the crashed plane.

IAF spokesman Sq Ldr R.K. Dhingra said the accident occurred when the single-seater fighter plane ‘‘developed engine trouble soon after take-off, leading to loss of control and forcing the pilot to eject’’.

Parwinder, a shopkeeper who witnessed the crash, told The Indian Express that he was standing on the roof of his house when he heard a loud thud. The plane had hit the high-tension feeder lines near the colony. ‘‘I saw the pilot bailing out of the aircraft, which later fell on the house of Murari Lal. His house was completely destroyed, as was the adjoining house, and soon the area was enveloped in fire’’, he said.

With today’s crash, the armed forces have lost 23 aircraft (including two Jaguars and 15 MiGs) in this calendar year. The worst was the mid-air collision over Dabolim air base in Goa on October 1, which killed 12 crew members.

The last Jaguar crash also occurred in Ambala on May 9 when the aircraft hit a fence and exploded. Ambala itself has been the venue for three crashes. Exactly four months later, an MiG 21 Bison craft crashed into a paddy field at Ambala. The pilot ejected but sustained injuries. And on May 3, eight people were killed when a MiG 21 crashed into a bank building in Jalandhar.

The Haryana Government announced a relief of Rs one lakh each to the next of kin of those killed in today’s crash.