Indian navy plane crashes after take off in Kerala state

APD NEWS

text

An Indian Navy plane crashed soon after taking off from a naval airport in the southern Indian state of Kerala Tuesday.

The incident took place in Willingdon Island near the city of Kochi this morning.

"A remotely piloted aircraft Searcher on a routine surveillance mission crashed north of the naval airfield INS Garuda after take off at 10.25 a.m. local time (0455 GMT)," an official statement said.

However, there has been no casualty or damage to property.

"A Board of Inquiry as been constituted to investigate the cause of the accident," it added.

In July 2016, another Searcher fell into the sea in Kochi after engine failure. The remotely-piloted plane was also on a routine sortie when it crashed.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)