Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar was killed on Wednesday as his plane crashed while landing in Baramati. A Loksatta report quoted the Directorate General of civil Aviation to confirm that all six people on board had died in the crash. Video ​showed billows of smoke rising from some of the burning ‌wreckage of the plane as it lay scattered across an ‌open field.

The Maharashtra government confirmed that PM Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah have both contacted CM Devendra Fadanvis and received information and updates about the Baramati plane crash. Baramati airport manager Shivaji Taware told Hindustan Times that the aircraft had attempted to land when it went to the side of the runway and ‘exploded’ upon impact with the ground.

ALSO READ

The NCP chief had been on his way to Pune for multiple election campaign events. He was slated to hold four meetings in Baramati for the Zilla Parishad and Panchayat Samiti elections. A meeting was also to be held for the Supe Zilla Parishad group. Pawar had reportedly boarded the chartered flight from Mumbai and encountered technical issues close to his destination.

What do we know about the crash so far?

According to preliminary information, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar was travelling on the Learjet 45 aircraft (registration VT-SSK) along with two other personnel, a personal security officer and an attendant, besides the pilot-in-command and first officer.

The plane took off from Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai at around 8:10 am. Tracking data from Flightradar24 indicates that it disappeared from the radar at about 8:45 am. The flight path shows the aircraft making a loop to line up with the runway as it prepared to land at the Baramati airport before disappearing from the flight tracker.

“I saw it with my eyes. This is really painful. When the aircraft descended, it seemed it would crash, and it did crash. It then exploded. There was a massive explosion. After that, we rushed here and saw that the aircraft was on fire. There were 4-5 explosions in the aircraft again. More people came here, and they tried to pull the people out (of the aircraft). But since this was a huge fire, people could not help. Ajit Pawar was onboard and this is really painful for us. I can’t describe it in words…” an eyewitness told ANI.

This story is being updated with additional details.