NEW DELHI, May 9: A British-built bomber aircraft of the Indian air force crashed on Thursday while taking off on a routine flight, a spokesman here said.

He said S. Pallarwal, the pilot of the Jaguar plane, was killed instantly when his aircraft slammed into metal fencing at an air force base in Ambala, 200 kilometres north of the Indian capital.

“The collision with the fencing ignited the Jaguar’s fuel tanks and the aircraft exploded instantly,” another air force official said, adding that the deep-penetration bomber was not carrying munitions.

The Jaguars offer pilots the facility to eject even without the plane leaving the ground.

India purchased Jaguars in 1980s but later began to manufacture them locally under licence from the British manufacturers.—AFP