The mishap occurred at 8.22 a.m., barely two kilometers away from the airport in Sector 20 in Pappankalan in south-west Delhi. The aircraft, which took off from Agra at 7 a.m., hit an overhead electric wire and an embankment six inches high before it crashed into a reservoir, bursting into flames and breaking into two pieces. The nose of the aircraft settled on top of the tank and the tail was lying on the ground near the reservoir.

The debris of the plane lay scattered in a 50-metre radius around the crash site. While a wheel of the aircraft was lying near the half-broken embankment 40 metres away from the reservoir,pieces of metal could be seen everywhere. Among the debris was also a watch that had stopped at 8.22, which is as of now, the only way of ascertaining the time of the crash. All the bodies, barring that of the three civilians -- Johitin, Akhla and Krishna -- were mangled. Rescue workers had to literally see through the aircraft to retrieve the dismembered body parts of the victims from the debris.

An inquiry has been ordered. A special control room has been set up at the Western Air Command in Palam and the numbers are: 303 5668 and 303 6674, a defence ministry spokesman said.

The bodies of the Air Force personnel have been kept in the Research and Referral (R&R) hospital (9), Base hospital (10) and the Deen Dayal Upadhyay (1) hospital.

Out of the 40-odd jhuggis, built by the labourers engaged in the construction of the tank, many were gutted. Shocked labourers could be seen trying to salvage their meagre belongings and assessing the damage.Commandeered by Flight Lieutenant Mohit Abrol, the aircrafttook off from Agra with a crew of four and six IAF officials at 7 a.m. At Gwalior, eight more IAF officials boarded the aircraft.

Nearly 10 minutes before the crash, the aircraft had been given landing clearance by the Air Traffic Control (ATC) Tower. The tower lost contact with the aircraft around four minutes before the crash.

The exact cause of the mishap is yet to be ascertained as the black box could not be recovered till late evening. According to Jasru, an eyewitness: ``I first heard a deafening sound and then suddenly there, right before my eyes was a huge ball of fire atop the water tank. Everything was obliterated by the dark bellowing clouds of smoke.''

Delhi police officials reached the spot within 20 minutes of the mishap and cordoned-off the area. Twenty fire tenders were rushed to the spot and while the fire was easily extinguished, it took the firemen more than three-and-a-half hours to recover the bodies from the debris. The rescue operations were carried out jointly by the officials ofthe Airport Authority of India, Indian Air Force and Delhi Fire Service.