- Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar died in an aircraft accident in Baramati Wednesday morning
- The Directorate General of Civil Aviation confirmed the death of the senior NCP leader
- The crash happened around 8:45 a.m. during an emergency landing attempt in Baramati
In a tragic development, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has died following an aircraft accident in Baramati on Wednesday morning. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has officially confirmed the death of the senior NCP leader.
The accident occurred around 8:50 a.m. when the aircraft, carrying the Deputy Chief Minister and his entourage, attempted an emergency landing in Baramati. According to Flight Radar, the flight took off from Mumbai at 8.10 am and it disappeared from radar around 8.45 am.
NDTV reports members of the Pawar family are expected to come to Baramati soon. Pawar was traveling to Baramati from Mumbai to address public meetings as part of the campaign for the February 5 zilla parishad elections in the state.
Superintendent of Police, Sandip Singh Gill, said that after the crash, there was a fire. "People onboard were immediately taken to the hospital," he said.
A source told PTI that the aircraft pilot had mentioned about poor visibility near the runway, before the aircraft attempted the landing.
The Learjet 45 (LJ45), a mid-size business jet aircraft produced by the Learjet Division of Bombardier Aerospace, went off the runway while attempting to land at Baramati airport and burst into flames, the source said.
Pawar is survived by wife Sunetra, a member of Rajya Sabha and two sons, Parth and Jay.
Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) had contested the recent municipal corporation elections in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad in alliance with his uncle Sharad Pawar's NCP (SP).
(with inputs from PTI)
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