Deputy minister among five dead in India plane crash

Ajit Pawar, deputy chief minister of India’s richest state, Maharashtra, died along with four others when his chartered plane burst into flames.

Media said that Pawar, who hails from a senior political family, was heading to his hometown to attend a local election rally.

The directorate general of civil aviation said two of its staff and two crew members were also on board the Learjet 45 aircraft operated by VSR Ventures.

“No one on board survived,” the first statement added.

VK Singh, director of VSR ‍Ventures, told broadcaster India Today that the plane crashed while approaching the city of Baramati but the reason was not clear.

“The plane is 100 percent safe,” he said. “The team was very experienced.”

Video footage showed smoke rising from part of the burning wreckage of the plane, scattered across an open field.

“At first it was burning, then there were four or five more explosions,” an unidentified witness told news agency ANI after seeing the plane crash and explode. But he added that the flames were too intense to get anyone out.

Pawar supported Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party in the state government and led a faction that broke away from the opposition Nationalist Congress Party in 2023.

In a post on X, Modi said Pawar’s death was “shocking and saddening”.

Media said Pawar’s plane, which took off from the financial capital Mumbai, attempted to make an emergency landing in the family stronghold of Baramati, 250 km away.