New Delhi, Nov 28: Search and rescue teams of the Indian Navy on Saturday continued with their efforts to locate a pilot who went missing after a MiG-29K trainer aircraft crashed into the Arabian Sea two days ago but the teams failed to make any headway, officials familiar with developments said on Saturday.
The Russian-origin twin-seat trainer jet went down off India’s west coast on Thursday after taking off from the deck of India’s only aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya. While rescue teams were able to recover one of the pilots on Thursday, the second pilot – identified by the navy as Commander Nishant Singh – is still not traceable.
“Additional warships, planes and helicopters were pressed into action on Saturday to intensify the search. There’s been no luck yet,” the officials said.
Thursday’s crash was the fourth accident involving the MiG-29K maritime fighter fleet.
While the cause of the crash is not known yet, India’s top auditor had in 2016 found deficiencies in the deck-based fighter. These included engine trouble, airframe problems and shortcomings in its fly-by-wire system.
