Date:27/12/2002 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2002/12/27/stories/2002122705700100.htm

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MiG crashes in J&K; IAF rejects militant's claim

By Shujaat Bukhari

The wreckage of the MIG 21 fighter which crashed into a house at Lal Pora in Budgam district of Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday. __ Photo: Nissar Ahmad.

JAMMU DEC. 26. A civilian was killed and his son injured when a MiG-21 fighter aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) crashed into his house on the outskirts of Srinagar. However, the pilot bailed out to safety before the crash.

Though the IAF has ruled out any foul play, a court of inquiry has been ordered. Defence sources told The Hindu that the aircraft crashed at 2.25 p.m. as it was preparing to land after a sortie. The pilot's effort to make an emergency landing at a nearby plateau failed and the jet hit the house of Ghulam Ahmed Ganai at Lalgam village in Budgam district. The house owner, Ganai, died of his injuries in a hospital.

The pilot, Flying Officer B.K. Singh, was rushed to the hospital with a broken left arm.

`No external action'

Our New Delhi Special Correspondent reports:

Though the crash took place in a militancy-hit region, senior IAF officials discounted claims of terrorist action.

"Based on available inputs, the possibility of external action is ruled out," an IAF spokesperson said.

The pro-Pakistan Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen, however, said that a missile was fired at the descending jet in response to the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed's appeal to militants yesterday asking them to surrender arms.

Initially some credence was given to the claim as the Army had recently recovered a Pakistani-made shoulder-fired surface-to-air missile "Anza" from an arms dump in Kupwara.

IAF officials said the low height at which the aircraft was flying meant that none of the three possibilities — bird hit, human error or technical defect — could be ruled out. "The pilot was just two nautical miles from the runway. What is clear that there was no time left to manoeuvre.''

Though the MiG crash rate is an embarrassing three every two months, the IAF maintains that the overall accident rate has fallen.