Engine of IAF's crashed Mirage-2000 found in Morena jungle ditch 500-ft below

The Indian Air Force (IAF) team found one of the engines of the crashed aircraft Mirage-2000 in a 500 feet deep ditch in the forests near Jazipura village. To bring out the engine, the IAF team had to cut down the trees and the wreckage was brought to Paharganj in trucks.

Morena (Madhya Pradesh): One of the engines of the crashed fighter jet Mirage-2000was found in a 500-feet deep ditch in the forests near Jazipura village in Morena on January 31. The Mirage jet was involved in a mid air collision with Sukhoi-30 on January 28. A team of the Indian Air Force (IAF) had to cut down trees there to retrieve the engine from the jungle.

The rubble of the crashed aircraft was found 500 feet away from the accident site. Official sources said, "a team of the Indian Air Force reached the spot, but the scrapes of the aircraft were in a 500 feet-deep ditch. The IAF team had to cut down trees to bring out the engine from the ditch." Three trucks were used to carry the debris of the aircraft from the forest in Jazipura village to Paharganj, sources said.

The accident occurred on January 28 when the Sukhoi-30 and the Mirage-2000 were on a routine training mission. Both aircraft collided with each other over Morena in Madhya Pradesh after taking off from Gwalior airbase. After the crash, while the Mirage 2000 crashed in Morena, Sukhoi fell in Pingaura village of Bharatpur, nearly 90 km away from Pahargarh.

One of the three pilots who was flying the Mirage 3000, lost his life in this mid-air collision. The deceased pilot who lost his life in Sukhoi-Mirage 2000 collision was identified as Wing Commander Hanumanth Rao Sarathi who hailed from Karnataka's Belagavi.