​Agencies

NEW DELHI, May 24:​ China on Wednesday said it had “no information” about a missing Indian Air Force Sukhoi fighter jet and warned India not to disturb peace in the border area while searching for the aircraft that disappeared a day ago.

“As for the situation you mentioned, I have no relevant information to offer at the moment,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said, to a question on the missing Indian jet and if China would come forward to help in the search.

“First of all, on the eastern section of the China-India border, our position is consistent and clear. We have been following the situation in South Tibet very closely. We hope India can stick to arrangements between two sides and avoid disturbing peace and stability in border areas,” Lu said curtly.

An Indian Air Force (IAF) Sukhoi-30 fighter jet with two pilots on board went missing near the Indo-China border in Assam on Tuesday morning. Search is on to locate the jet.

China’s remarks are not likely to go down well with India that has a decades-old border dispute with China. Beijing claims parts of Arunachal Pradesh in the northeast as Southern Tibet.

The Sukhoi took off from the IAF Tezpur air base, located only about 172 km from the Indo-China border in Arunachal Pradesh, on a routine training mission.

Official sources say the aircraft took off at 9.30 a.m. from Tezpur air base but lost radar and radio contact near Arunachal Pradesh’s Doulasang area, a border area adjoining China, 60 km north of Tezpur. Tezpur is one of the three air bases of the IAF in the country that hosts the Sukhoi.

Bad weather hampers search for missing fighter jet

TEZPUR, May 24:The search for the Indian Air Force's missing Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter jet was hit by rough weather today.

IAF sources said the operation was continuing despite bad weather conditions in parts of Assam and neighbouring Arunachal Pradesh where the plane is suspected to have crashed.

The Sukhoi jet, with two pilots on board, went missing around an hour after taking off from the IAF base here at 10:30 AM.

A massive search operation, involving helicopter recce, was launched to trace the plane and the pilots.

The jet had lost radar and radio contact around 60 km north of the airbase, IAF had said yesterday.

At present, two squadrons comprising around 36 aircraft are deployed at Tezpur for guarding the China border in Arunachal Pradesh.

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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