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Trainee pilot killed in crash near Pachmarhi in MP
A trainee pilot from Pune was killed after his aircraft crashed into the hills of Chhindwara near the Maharashtra-Madhya Pradesh border. HT reports.
A trainee pilot from Pune was killed after his aircraft crashed into the hills of Chhindwara near the Maharashtra-Madhya Pradesh border.
Debris of the single-engine Diamond DA-40 aircraft was found on Wednesday near Bandhan village in Chhindwara district of MP, about 275km southeast of state capital Bhopal.
The body of pilot Sohel Zahiruddin Ansari, 19, was found near the remnants of the plane. He was reportedly a student of the Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Academy, Uttar Pradesh. The reason behind the crash is not yet known.
The aircraft lost contact with the Air Traffic Control soon after it took off for a three-hour training flight from Birsi Airport, Gondia, in Maharashtra at 12:30pm on Tuesday. "The flight took off around 12.30 pm and was scheduled to return by 3.30 pm.. But an hour into the air, it lost all ground contact and was reported missing," an official from Gondia police control said.
It was last spotted near Pachmarhi and Tamia forests in MP.
Balaram Dubey, Tamia police station assistant sub-inspector, said residents of Bandhan village informed the police about the debris and the body.
“The body has been identified and the Maharashtra Police have been informed. We have registered a case and started investigation,” Dubey said.
