Tezpur: File picture of Indian Air Force’s Sukhoi 30 plane. Credit: PTI
Tezpur (Assam): The wreckage of the IAF Sukhoi fighter jet that went missing with two crew members on board was found on Friday after three days of search operations.
The Sukhoi jet went missing after taking off for a routine training sortie from the Tezpur Salonibari Air Force station in Assam at 10:30 am on Tuesday, May 23, . The two-seater SU-30 MKI aircraft lost radar and radio contact at around 11.10 am.
Defence spokesperson, Tezpur 4 Corps, Lt Colonel Sombit Ghosh told PTI that the wreckage of the missing SU-30 jet was found close to the last known position of the aircraft, which was 60 km north-west of Tezpur in Assam’s Sonitpur district.
“As of now, weather is bad and the place has dense foliage and members of the search operation are yet to reach the spot”, he said.
Unconfirmed reports said the fighter plane had one squadron leader and a crew member on board. The IAF has not yet released any name or rank of the two members in the missing plane.
The country’s front line aircraft SU-30 MKI was inducted in Tezpur air base during the tenure of former IAF vice chief Air Marshal P.K. Barbora on June 15, 2009.
At present Tezpur has a strength of two squadrons of SU-30 aircraft with one squadron comprising 12-16 aircraft.