An Indian Navy MiG-29 trainer aircraft crashed into the Arabian Sea at around 5:00 pm on Thursday, PTI reported quoting Indian Navy officials. One pilot was recovered while search operations are currently ongoing to rescue the second pilot and an inquiry has been launched to ascertain the cause of the accident.  

“One pilot has been rescued and search by air and surface units is in progress for the second pilot,” an official said. 

Surveillance aircraft and ships have been deployed to locate the missing pilot, Commander Nishant Singh, and the search operation is currently in progress.

Sources said that the jet took off from the INS Vikramaditya aircraft carrier, which was part of the recent Malabar exercise involving the navies of India, the US, Australia and Japan. 

The Indian Navy has around 40 MiG-29K fighter jets and a number of them operate from the aircraft carrier.