NEW DELHI: Ajit Pawar, Maharashtra’s deputy chief minister and chief of the Nationalist Congress Party, was among five people killed on Wednesday.
India’s civil aviation regulator said the chartered aircraft crashed while attempting an emergency landing at Baramati airport in India’s western state of Maharashtra. The crash occurred between 8:45 am and 9:00 am local time as the plane was coming down at the airport in Pune district.
Five people were killed in the accident — Pawar, two pilots, a personal security officer, and an attendant — with no survivors reported.
Video footage aired by local media showed thick plumes of smoke rising from burning wreckage scattered across an open field. The aircraft, a Learjet 45 operated by a Delhi-based charter company, had taken off from Mumbai shortly after 8:00 am and was headed to Baramati, where Pawar was due to address public rallies ahead of local body elections.
Television footage showed the jet broken into pieces and engulfed in flames near the runway.
Media reports said the aircraft, which had been travelling from India’s financial capital Mumbai, attempted an emergency landing near the city of Baramati before crashing. Further details on the cause of the incident were not immediately available.
Pawar, 66, was one of Maharashtra’s most influential political figures, having served multiple terms as deputy chief minister and represented the Baramati assembly constituency for more than three decades.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah spoke with Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to receive updates and convey condolences. Leaders across party lines expressed shock and grief, describing Pawar’s death as a major loss to state and national politics.
