New Delhi: Indian Navy MiG-29K fighter jet crashed near Goa on February 23 morning but the pilot ejected safely.

“Today morning (February 23) at around 1030h a MiG-29K aircraft on a routine training sortie crashed off Goa. The pilot of the aircraft ejected safely and has been recovered,” Navy spokesperson said in a statement. An enquiry to investigate the incident has been ordered, he added.

India had contracted 45 MiG-29K carrier based fighters from Russia in two batches, 16 fighters in 2004 along with the contract for acquiring aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya and another 29 fighters in 2010. In fact, India was the first launch customer of the carrier variant of MiG-29 even before the Russian Navy.

The MiG-29K fleet saw two more accidents, one in January 2018 and another in November last year. In both cases, the pilots ejected safely.

The MiG-29Ks based in Goa currently fly off the deck of INS Vikramaditya and will fly off in near future from the indigenous carrier Vikrant.