Plane crashes at India air show

Deaths as naval aicraft crashes during acrobatics display in city of Hyderabad.

india plane crash
The plane crashed into a crowded residential area

He was unable to say if there were further casualties on the  ground.

But Prerna Suri, Al Jazeera’s India correspondent, said the state police department had confirmed the two deaths and four injured.

“The Indian army, the state police and the fire department have been deployed to comb the area for survivors,” she said.

“It was a very crowed area so the casualty count is expected to go up.

“The aircraft was manned by two pilots, both have been declared dead.

Investigation

Suri said the cause of the crash was not known yet, but that an investigation was already underway.

“There are a lot of questions being asked about how an air show could be held so close to a very crowded residential area, so close to the airport,” Suri said.

The crash came on the opening day of the India Aviation 2010 exhibition, a five-day civil aviation exhibition.

The plane, a two-seater Kiran MK-II built by state-run Hindustan Aeronautics, was part of a four-plane formation.

In January 2009 a similar aircraft went down in the southern state of Karnataka, killing its lone pilot.

Source: Al Jazeera, News Agencies