19 IAF fighters suffered accidents in three years

New Delhi, July 22 (IANS) Nineteen fighter aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) have met with accidents in the last three years, with human error and technical defects being the main reasons, Defence Minister Arun Jaitley said Tuesday.

In written replies in the Rajya Sabha, Jaitley said that every accident is thoroughly investigated.

Jaitley, who answered two questions on the accidents, informed that five service personnel had been killed in the 19 accidents in three years (2011-12 to July 17, 2014).

According to the minister, the fighter planes that met with accident in the last three years include eight MiG-21s (different versions), three Jaguars, three MiG-29s, two Sukhoi SU-30MKIs, two Mirage 2000 and one MiG 27 ML.

Nine accidents took place in 2011-12, four in 2012-13, five in 2013-14 and one in 2014-15.

In another reply, Jaitley had said that five fighter aircraft and one transport aircraft of IAF were destroyed in accidents in 2013-14.

He said that six IAF personnel were killed in these accidents.

Jaitley said that one helicopter of IAF was also destroyed during flood relief operations in Kedarnath, Uttarakhand, in which five IAF personnel and 15 National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) personnel were killed.

IAF aircraft accidents during such special operations in aid to civil agencies were not included in the statistics maintained for aircraft accidents, Jaitley said.