At least five Indian Air Force personnel have been killed after a military transport plane crashed while attempting to land at an airbase in Assam, in the northeast of the country, with a major rescue operation launched at the scene.
The Antonov An-32 crashed at the air force base in Jorhat on Saturday morning. The Indian Air Force confirmed in a post on X that the aircraft “met with an accident during a routine sortie.” The co-pilot survived and is undergoing emergency treatment, officials told news agency ANI.
Images and video from the scene showed catastrophic damage, with the aircraft torn apart on impact. News channel NDTV broadcast footage of the crash site showing a thick plume of black smoke and the wreckage broken into pieces, as soldiers surrounded the area and scrambled inside the aircraft in a desperate search for survivors. Eyewitnesses told Telegraph India they heard a loud explosion before the area was engulfed in smoke.
The entire air force station has been sealed off, with no entry permitted, while firefighters and senior IAF officials were rushed to the scene. A court of inquiry has been ordered to investigate the cause of the crash.
The An-32 is a twin-engine turboprop transport aircraft designed to perform well at high altitudes and in extreme climates. Capable of carrying up to 7.5 tonnes of cargo, around 50 passengers or 42 paratroopers, the Indian Air Force operates roughly 100 of the aircraft for military supplies and civilian aid missions in remote mountain regions.
The crash comes just months after an Indian Air Force Sukhoi Su-30MKI fighter jet went down in Assam’s Karbi Anglong district, killing both pilots on board.
