Thursday 28 Mar 2024

BSF plane crashes; 10 killed

PTI | DECEMBER 23, 2015, 12:00 AM IST

NEW DELHI: A small 20-year-old BSF plane ferrying the force's technical personnel to Ranchi on Tuesday crashed near Dwarka and burst into flames just outside IGI airport shortly after take-off killing all 10 people on board.

The ill-fated twin-engine Beechcraft Super King plane suddenly took a kind of u-turn towards the airport after taking off at 9.37 AM and hit a tree while apparently approaching the land following a possible technical problem, according to officials from the Air Traffic Control and Directorate General of Civil Aviation(DGCA). Three officers were among the victims, BSF officials said.

The 11-seater plane, inducted into the force in 1995, then smashed through a portion of the boundary wall at the edge of the airport near a railway track and landed in a sewage treatment plant, they said, adding the accident happened at around 9.40 am amid reports the pilots may not have sent any "Mayday" signal to the ATC. Closest residential settlements were about one km away from the crash site.

“It is unfortunate that all 10 people including the pilots have died in the crash,” Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Mahesh Sharma said. There were two pilots on board the plane that crashed at Shahbad Mohammadpur village.

An inquiry has been ordered by Civil Aviation Ministry.

BSF sources said the technicians were on their way to Ranchi to repair a helicopter.

The DG-level talks between India and Bangladesh scheduled today in Dhaka were cancelled in the wake of the crash, they said.

The bodies of all the 10 paramilitary personnel have been recovered and sent for post-mortem to Safdarjung Hospital.

A BSF statement said the aircraft was “totally burnt” and the bodies of the pilots and crew were “charred” to death.

>> Details on pg 10

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