Crashed Su-30's pilots declared dead

The IAF on Wednesday declared dead the two missing pilots of the Sukhoi-30 fighter jet that crashed in Assam last week.

"Squadron Leader D. Pankaj and Flight Lieutenant S. Achudev, the pilots of the Su-30 aircraft sustained fatal injuries when the aircraft crashed," the Indian Air Force said, noting that analysis of the jet's Flight Data Recorder and some other articles recovered from the crash site revealed that the pilots could not eject.

The wreckage of the aircraft, that had gone missing soon after it took off on May 23 from IAF's Tezpur base on a routine training mission, was located on May 26 after continuous search operation in the area.

Search and rescue teams on Tuesday had found a blood stained shoe, half-burnt PAN card and a wallet of one of the pilots.

The teams comprising army, air Force and civil administration personnel had recovered the jet's black box on May 28 from the crash site, located in a dense forest.

A court of inquiry is investigating the cause of the accident.

--IANS

ao/vd