Two Indian Air Force pilots were killed in an aircraft crash in Majuli river island district in Assam on Thursday, 15 February, a defence spokesperson said.
The Virus SW80 microlight aircraft crashed soon after it took off from the Jorhat air base at around 12 pm on a routine sortie, officials said.
The wreckage of the two-seater aircraft has been sighted and a court of inquiry ordered, the officials said in New Delhi.
Tezpur-based defence spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Harshvardhan Pande told PTI that the two pilots killed in the crash were identified as Wing Commander Jai Paul James and Wing Commander D Vats.
The pilots attempted an emergency landing but the aircraft crashed at a sandbar in the northern part of the district and went up in flames, the official said.
The crash took place at Darbar Chapori, a sandbar in the Brahmaputra, where there is no human habitation.
People from other villages of the district spotted the aircraft going up in flames and informed the district authorities.
IAF personnel from the 10 Wing Air Force Station in Jorhat rushed to the spot while police and senior officials of the district also visited the crash site, which has to be reached by boat.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)