the goan I network
MARGAO
Eyewitness account say the ill-fated MIG 29 engine was on fire minutes before the aircraft crashed and exploded on the Verna plateau.
Verna police station in-charge, PI Harish Madkaikar, who was around Carmel College, Nuvem said he saw the ill-fated aircraft flying very low and was burning. “Moments later, the plane crashed towards Verna as thick black smoke was seen billowing from the plateau”, PI Madkaikar told South Goa Superintendent of Police, Arvind Gawas.
Many others pointed out that they could see the burning aircraft travelling a high speed and very low, before they hear the loud explosion. In fact, one could see the smoke billowing from the Verna plateau at a great distance, with many people heading to Nuvem first and then to Sodovim-Verna before heading to the plateau.
Former Loutolim Sarpanch and Panch member Maria Monteiro, who was inside her house at Devotte, close to the plateau, told the media that she could hear the aircraft flying very low before it crashed on the adjoining plateau.
Though it was initially believed that the crash site was in the jurisdiction of Loutolim, Maria’s husband Franky, who is the president of Loutolim Communidade clarified that the site is in Verna.
