Female trainee pilot and flight instructor died when trainer plane crashes in Balaghat district

Officials claimed a trainer plane crashed on Saturday in the hilly part of Madhya Pradesh’s Naxalite-affected Balaghat district and caught fire, killing the flight instructor and a female student pilot.

According to an official from Gondia in neighbouring Maharashtra, the aircraft belonged to the IGRAU (Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Academy) and was on a training mission when it crashed.

According to Balaghat Superintendent of Police Sameer Saurabh, two badly burned bodies were found at the scene, which is under the jurisdiction of the Lanji police station.

He stated that the burnt remains of a man (believed to be that of pilot Mohit Thakur) were discovered on the slopes of Lanji and Kirnapur, roughly 40 kilometres from the Balaghat district headquarters and near the accident site.

“About 3:45 p.m., we received information” (about the crash). Security troops were called in because the area was riddled with Naxalite militants. After the area was blocked off, further personnel arrived. We retrieved the terribly burned bodies of the flight instructor and the female pilot. “The location is under the jurisdiction of the Lanji police station,” Saurabh stated.

Anurag Sharma, Deputy Inspector General of Police, told PTI that the trainer plane took off at 3.06 p.m. from the Birsi airfield in Gondia’s adjoining district of Balaghat. Around 3.11 p.m., it lost contact with Air Traffic Control (ATC).

“It is commonly assumed that the burnt body was that of pilot Mohit Thakur (about 25 years old),” he stated, adding that the lady trainee pilot, Vrikshanka Maheshwari (approximately 20 years old), is still missing.

“On the surface, both died in the crash,” he continued.

IGRAU owns the trainer aircraft (Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi). At roughly 3:30 p.m., it crashed in Bhukkutola village in Balaghat district, killing a flight training captain and a female trainee, according to IGRAU Administrative Officer Satya Kumar in Gondia.

“The training aircraft with flying instructor captain Mohit took off from the Birsi airstrip on a regular sortie at around 3 PM. It is believed to have crashed due to severe weather in the hills near Bhukkutola hamlet,” he explained.

“The aeroplane caught fire in which bodies of captain Mohit and the trainee pilot were terribly mangled. After receiving the information, a firefighting and rescue crew from Birsi and other officials involved hurried to the scene,” he added.

According to Kumar, the aeroplane wreckage was discovered on the hills, who added that villagers were the first to arrive at the location.

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