IAF trainer aircraft crashes near Hyderabad, pilot safe

A trainer aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) crashed at Keesara near Hyderabad today, the police said.

The pilot of the aircraft is safe, Rachakonda Police Commissioner Mahesh M Bhagwat told PTI.

A Court of Inquiry (CoI) will ascertain the cause of the crash, an Air Force official in New Delhi said.

"Around 11.45 am today, a Kiran aircraft, which got airborne from Air Force Station Hakimpet in Hyderabad for a routine training mission with a trainee Flight Cadet, crashed. The pilot is safe," the Air Force official said.

Bhagwat said IAF officials took the pilot away and added that the aircraft caught fire after it crashed.

"We called up fire tenders and the fire was extinguished," he said, and added that the accident site was an "isolated place".