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Mirage crashes near Gwalior, pilots safe

Gwalior, October 12
A Mirage-2000 trainer aircraft today crashed near Gwalior while taking part in a joint exercise with the Singapore Airforce, but the two pilots ejected safely.

The mishap occurred between 1,130 hours and 1,140 hours when the fighter was returning to the Gwalior Air Base on detection of some technical problem soon after take-off, an IAF spokesman said.

While the pilots found that the aircraft would not be able to make it to the airfield they decided to eject, he said, adding subsequently the plane crashed four nautical miles short of the base.

The two pilots were safe and nobody was injured on the ground also.

Earlier, Additional District Magistrate R.K. Jain said that preliminary information showed that the wheel of the Mirage fell off immediately after it took off from the Maharajpur Air Force base.

The spokesman said the joint exercise ‘Ankush’ was unaffected by the mishap. — PTI