Five Indian air force staff killed as transport plane crashes in Assam

Five Indian air force personnel have been killed after the aircraft they were travelling in crashed in the northeastern Indian state of Assam, according to officials.

The Antonov An-32 transport plane “met with an accident” during a “routine sortie” in Assam’s Jorhat region, the Indian Air Force said in a statement on Saturday.

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“Crash site management and initial enquiries are on at this time,” the Air Force wrote, adding that an investigation to determine the cause of the accident was under way.

News channel NDTV broadcast images of the crash site, showing a thick black plume of smoke and the aircraft apparently broken into pieces.

India’s air force operates a fleet of about 105 An-32 aircraft to transport people and cargo.

The last major crash involving the twin-engine turboprop took place in 2019 in Arunachal Pradesh state, near the border with China, when 13 people were killed.