NEW DELHI:
A C-130J Hercules cargo plane crashed on Friday in central India killing all five of its crew members, an Air Force spokesman said.
The US-made military aircraft came down on the outskirts of Gwalior city in Madhya Pradesh while on a routine flight, group captain Gerard Galway told AFP. “We can confirm that all five crew members have died in the crash,” he said.
It was the first crash involving a Hercules aircraft in India, which has been troubled for years by crashes of Russian-made MiG-21 fighter planes.
In a statement, the defence ministry said the aircraft crashed at 4:30 GMT after taking off from Agra. An investigation into the accident was under way, the statement added.
The accident is the latest in a string of deadly mishaps to have hit the country’s armed forces. The chief of the Indian navy resigned last month on the day a fire on board a nuclear submarine killed two officers off the Mumbai coast.
Friday’s accident involved one of the six heavy-lift military transport aircraft which India acquired from Lockheed Martin for around $1.1 billion in a deal signed four years ago.
India had recently deployed one of these aircraft to take part in the search and rescue operation for the missing Malaysian MH370 flight.
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