New Delhi, June 4
Indian Air Force (IAF) search and rescue teams have located the wreckage of a MiG-27 fighter aircraft that went missing on May 19 after taking off from Hashimara Airbase in West Bengal.
The wreckage was found 18 km northeast of Bagdogra Airbase today.
An IAF helicopter located the wreckage but the fate of its pilot Sq Ldr V. Sinha was still unknown, reports here said.
The wreckage was located by the helicopter searching areas near the heavily-forested Indo-Bhutan border, reports said. Ground search teams (jungle hunters) were trying to reach the spot for salvage operation and find the whereabouts of the pilot.
An extensive search operation was launched in the area after a Bhutanese villager yesterday reported in a Jalpiguri police station that he had sighted the wreckage in the Samchi area of Bhutan.
An Air Force search team flew two sorties yesterday but could not find anything. The IAF Station Commander also visited the area where the wreckage was to have been spotted, but did not find anything.
