A two-seater trainer aircraft crashed in Odisha's Dhenkanal district on early Monday (June 8) morning. A pilot trainer and a woman trainee pilot were killed in the crash shortly after Government Aviation Training Institute (GATI)-run aircraft took off from Birasala airstrip.
The woman trainee pilot, identified as Anis Fatima and her instructor, Captain Sanjib Kumar Jha, lost their lives in the incident. Sanjib Jha was from Bihar, while Fatima was from Tamil Nadu.
News agency ANI took to Twitter saying: "Captain Sanjib Kumar Jha from Bihar and Anis Fatima, a trainee pilot from Tamil Nadu, lost their lives after a trainer aircraft crashed today at Birasal Airstrip."
Victims taken to hospital, declared dead
The two were announced dead after being taken to a hospital nearby in Kamakhyanagar, Additional District Magistrate (ADM), Dhenkanal, B K Nayak, reportedly said.
The bodies of the trainee pilot and the instructor have been sent to the hospital for postmortem. The accurate cause of the accident is yet to be discovered, however, the mishap could have taken place due to a technical snag in the aircraft.
The accident occurred at Birasala airstrip under the Kankadahada police station area at around 6.30 am today, Anupama James, superintendent of police (SP), Dhenkanal, told Hindustan Times.
"It seems the aircraft developed some snag after it took off. The trainer pilot, Sanjay Kumar Jha, and the trainee pilot, Anis Fathima, were killed in the accident. Kamakhyanagar sub-divisional hospital authorities declared them brought dead," said James as quoted by the English daily.
