MiG-29 wreckage located in deep water

Bhuj, September 2: The wreckage of a MiG-29 that crashed off the Jamnagar coast on Monday has been located in deep water, 3.5 miles from Narara Bet Marine National Park. The fighter jet crashed during a training mission but the pilot, Flight Lieutenant Dheer, managed to eject safely.

Sources said that the crash site has been marked by the Vadinar-based Coast Guard which had sent its two boats — C-132 and IC 110 — to help the Navy undertake salvage operations.

Sources said the burning jet crashed five nautical miles from a Single Buoy Mooring (SBM) — a round-shaped small floating platform in the mid-sea to unload crude Oil — of the Indian Oil Corporation.

Two huge oil tankers — Devasi from Bombay High and Formasa — were working at the Vadinar harbour at the time of the crash.

“We were saved by providence as the crash site was just 8 km from our jetty. I visited the crash site on Monday and found wreckage of the plane scattered all over the area,” said Dr G S Rao, chief operations manager, Kandla Port Trust’s offshore oil terminal.

Had the burning plane fallen on any of the two oil tankers at Vadinar harbour, the quantum of the blast would have destroyed the entire Jamnagar as well as the marine life in the area, said sources.