No clue about missing Sukhoi fighter jet in India, search continues

As search operation for the missing Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter jet with two pilots on board enters third-straight day on Thursday in India's northeastern state of Assam, rescuers so far were unable to get clues about it, China's Xinhua news agency reported officials as saying.

According to officials, helicopters that were pressed into service to search for the Sukhoi fighter jet have been taking regular sorties in the area in a bid to gather vital information about the missing jet.

"The search is ongoing but so far the search teams are unable to get the vital clues about the missing jet," an official said.

Officials said bad weather condition prevailing in the area were affecting the search operation.

India's state-run broadcaster, All India Radio (AIR) said Indian Air Force (IAF) teams were continuing searches despite overcast sky, spells of rains and thundershowers in the area, where the fighter jet is suspected to have crashed.

"Apart from the aerial assets, four groups of IAF personnel, nine parties of the Indian Army and two teams from the state administration have been deployed to look for the fighter jet," the broadcaster said.

The fighter jet belonging to Indian airforce went missing Tuesday after taking off from the Tezpur Indian airforce base in northeastern state of Assam.

According to officials the fighter jet was on a routine training sortie and lost the radio contact with the airbase. The Sukhoi-30 is a Russian-made, twin-engine supersonic fighter jet.

In March this year a Sukhoi crashed in Rajasthan's Barmer. Since the induction of Sukhoi-30 fighter planes into Indian airforce in 1997, so far seven have crashed.

-- BERNAMA