Indian Navy recovers some debris of crashed MiG-29K in Arabian sea; search for second pilot on

Mumbai/Panaji: The Indian Navy has recovered some debris of the MiG-29K aircraft that went missing four days back in the Arabian Sea off the Goa coast, a spokesperson said on Sunday, adding the search continued with ships and aircraft for missing pilot Cdr Nishant Singh. In addition to nine warships and 14 aircraft engaged in the search efforts, the Indian Navy’s Fast Interceptor Craft are also deployed to search waters along the coast, a defence release said. “Indian Navy’s search and rescue effort to locate the second pilot of the MiG-29K trainer aircraft which ditched off Goa on 26 November continues with extensive deployment of naval ships and aircraft,” a defence release said. “Some debris of the aircraft, including landing gear, turbocharger, a fuel tank engine, and wing engine cowling has been located,” it said. The Marine Police and Coastal Police are on the lookout and nearby fishing villages have been sensitised, the release added. The Russian-origin jet had taken off from aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya and went down at 5 pm on Thursday, officials had said, adding that one pilot of the aircraft had been rescued. The MiG-29K is an all-weather carrier-based multirole fighter aircraft developed by Russian aerospace company Mikoyan (MiG). The Indian Navy had procured a fleet of 45 MiG-29Ks from Russia over a decade back at a cost of around USD 2 billion to operate from INS Vikramaditya. INS Vikramaditya was part of the second phase of the Malabar exercise involving navies of India, the US, Australia, and Japan. The MIG-29K fleet onboard the aircraft carrier was also involved in the mega naval drill that took place from November 17 to 20.