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5 killed as IAF fighter crashes into residential area

By Our Special Correspondent

AMBALA NOV. 5. Tragedy struck here this afternoon after a Jaguar fighter of the Indian Air Force plunged into the residential areas of Anand Nagar and Bhur Mandi under the Babyal Police Station, killing at least five persons and injuring 13. The injured were rushed to the local Civil and Army Hospitals and the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education.

The dead included a 40-year-old woman identified as Lajo and a 12-year-old boy identified as Bharat.

Senior Air Force, Haryana Police and district officers, including the Ambala Range Inspector-General of Police, Alok Joshi, immediately reached the spot and launched rescue operations.

The number of casualties could go up as five persons, including some women, are feared to be buried beneath the debris of two houses gutted after the burning plane crashed into them. Six other houses also suffered extensive damage, according to eye-witnesses.

The pilot, Flight Lieutenant Rehani, is reported to have bailed out to safety shortly before the fighter craft "crashed''.

The tragedy occurred soon after the fighter jet took off from the local air base at around 3.20 p.m. on a `routine sortie'. Sources said the fuel tank was full when the craft caught fire and crashed.

An enquiry has been ordered into the accident. On September 9 this year an IAF fighter crashed in the fields soon after take-off from the Ambala base.

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