BHOPAL: A flying instructor and a trainee female co-pilot of National Flying Training Institute (NFTI), Gondia were killed after an aircraft they were flying crashed in the Vainganga River bordering Gondia district of Maharashtra and Balaghat district in Madhya Pradesh (MP) on Wednesday morning.
The deceased have been identified as – flight instructor Captain Rajan Gupta, 35, and trainee Himani Kalyani, 24, of Delhi.
Himani was undergoing an 18 months training at the academy and it was the final check flight of her session, which crashed after hitting a ropeway wire on Wainganga River, said sources.
The incident took place at around 9 am on Wednesday. MP police team reached the spot around 11 am as the area was close to Kherlanji police station of Balaghat district (around 70 km from the district headquarters).
A case has been registered for investigations at Gondia’s Daveniwada police station as the area in question is located in Kirori Tehsil in Gondia district.
Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) sources said it was a four-seater aircraft – Diamond 42 or DA42-VI – operated by National Flying Training Institute, Gondia for training purposes.
Balaghat Superintendent of police, Amit Sangi, who was among the first ones to reach the spot told TOI, that the aircraft had crashed on the Madhya Pradesh-Maharashtra border and had apparently hit wire of a ropeway – that was used by a construction company – on Wainganga river at Mahalgao-Deori (Gondia) Vidarbha area where it collapsed. The aircraft broke into three and oil spill was visible in the river.
“Initially, there was confusion over the jurisdiction because of the proximity of the borders between the two states, but it was eventually sorted out. A senior police officer from Gondia and NFTI officials reached the spot and it was decided that spot of crash falls in their area and they would initiate legal proceedings,” Sangi said.
