CHANDIGARH: One civilian killed and nine others injured as an unidentified aircraft caught fire and crashed in Aklian Kalan village of Bathinda district in Punjab.
The deceased has been identified as Govind a farm labourer hailing from Charkhi Dadri in Haryana, sources said.
The aircraft crashed around 2 am in harvested wheat fields, approximately 500 meters from the nearest residential area.
There was no information about the pilot till this report was filed.
After the crash, public approached the burning wreckage and discovered Govind and the other injured.
As per eyewitnesses, several farm labourers were at the local grain market late Tuesday night when they noticed an aircraft flying unusually low. The eyewitnesses further added that they woke up to the loud sound of a crashing aircraft, which immediately caught fire.
"As aircraft was spotted which was in flames people rushed to rescue the pilots. As the villagers were rushing towards the plane, it exploded and several of them were hurt,’’ said a local.
Defence personnel and police teams cordoned off the crash site and fire tenders plunged into action at the scene. The district administration is tight-lipped about the identity of the plane stating that any comment on the incident will be issued only by the defence authorities.
Senior officials of the district administration reached the crash site and also police have been stationed at the hospital.
The injured Govind was immediately rushed to the public health centre in Goniana, where he was declared dead on arrival. While the other injured were taken to Shaheed Bhai Mani Singh Civil Hospital, from where at least one was referred to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Bathinda.
Meanwhile all schools will remain closed in five border districts of Ferozepur, Fazilka, Gurdaspur, Amritsar and Pathankot of the state in the wake of tension between India and Pakistan.
The Ferozepur Deputy Commissioner had issued an order that all schools in the district will remain closed on Wednesday.
In Pathankot, all schools will remain shut for 72 hours.
Meanwhile the flight operations from Chandigarh, Amritsar and Dharamsala airports suspended.
Further, Air India announced that all flights to and from Jammu, Srinagar, Leh, Jodhpur, Amritsar, Bhuj, Chandigarh, Jamnagar and Rajkot have been cancelled for May 7 till 12 noon, pending updates from authorities.
Ministry of Home Affairs, bureau of immigration closes Kartarpur Corridor “till further orders.” 150 pilgrims , who had gathered at the Integrated check post today morning , were asked to return home after being made to wait for 90 minutes.
In retaliation for the Pahalgam terror attack, Indian armed forces early Wednesday carried out missile strikes on nine terror targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir, including the Jaish-e-Mohammad stronghold of Bahawalpur and Lashkar-e-Taiba's base in Muridke.
The military strikes were carried out under 'Operation Sindoor', two weeks after the massacre of 26 civilians at Pahalgam of Jammu and Kashmir.