NEW DELHI, 2 October — Two Indian Navy surveillance planes flying in an air show collided in mid-air yesterday in the western state of Goa, killing 15 people and injuring another 15.
The two planes, each carrying six crew members, took off from the resort state’s main airport in Panaji and hit each other at around 10:00 a.m. (0430 GMT) in the nearby area of Zuarinagar.
“All the 12 personnel on board are dead. There are also casualties on the ground,” Air Force chief S. Krishnaswamy told reporters in New Delhi after speaking to his Navy counterpart Madhvendra Singh.
“The Russian-made Ilyushin-38 planes were each carrying six crew members when they crashed. They were practicing exercises in close formation and the aircraft collided,” he said.
An Air Force spokesman said the planes were flying as part of an air show to mark the 25th anniversary of the Indian Navy’s 315 Air Squadron.
“One of the planes went down immediately in a big ball of fire as soon as it collided,” witness Elias Vaz told Star News television.
“The other tried to save itself by moving away, but it crashed into a house below. We tried to save the people in the plane, but we could not do anything because the plane was completely mangled.”
“Fifteen people have been killed, including the 12 crew members and three civilians on the ground,” Pradeep Srivastava, a senior police official at the scene, said.
“The rescue operation is now over,” he said. “There were people trapped in a house that was under construction but we believe that most of them have been rescued.”
Srivastava said many of the bodies were badly mangled after the planes collided. One of the planes crashed on a road and the other on a building where the construction crew was working. He said another 15 people on the ground were injured and taken to the hospital for treatment.
Officials confirmed only 15 deaths, but Star News television quoted eyewitnesses as saying that the final death toll could be as high as 35 since many bodies may be lying under the debris at the crash site.
Many of the injured suffered up to 95 percent burns and their chances of survival were slim, Star News said.
Firefighters took about an hour to put out the flames caused by the crash, a Defense Ministry statement said.
The Indian Navy’s western command has set up a board of inquiry into the collision. “The board will look into the various aspects of the crash and try to find the actual reason for the accident,” navy spokesman C.K. Singh said.
The Panaji airport, which mainly serves tourists heading for holidays on the Arabian Sea coast, was shut down for more than an hour after the collision, police said.
President A.P.J. Kalam offered condolences to the families of “the brave naval personnel who lost their lives in this tragic accident” and of the people killed on the ground.
Much of India’s military is supplied by Russian hardware dating from the time of the Soviet Union.
The Ilyushin-38, which today is used primarily by India and former Soviet republics, was first flown in 1967. The transport plane has two armament bays that can carry torpedoes or other weapons.
Krishnaswamy said at the press conference in New Delhi that the IAF will update its strike force with new aircraft, helicopters and radar.
