Deputy CM Ajit Pawar of Maharashtra state among five dead in air charter crash

The deputy chief minister of India's wealthiest state of Maharashtra, Ajit Pawar, died on Wednesday, along with four other people on board, when ‍his charter aircraft ‌went down in flames, the aviation regulator said.

Pawar, ⁠who hailed from a ‍top political family, was en route to his home region to canvass in local body elections, media said.

Two of his staff and ‍two crew were also aboard the VSR Ventures-operated Learjet 45 aircraft, the ‍directorate general of civil aviation said. "No person on board has survived," it added in an initial statement.

VK Singh, the director of VSR Ventures, told broadcaster India Today that the plane crashed during its approach to the city of Baramati, but the cause was not ‌clear.

Rescue personnel and onlookers gather around the wreckage of the aircraft carrying Ajit Pawar, after it crashed in an open field while landing near Baramati airport. AFP

"The aircraft is 100% safe," he said. "The crew was fairly ‍experienced." Video images showed smoke billowing from some of the burning wreckage of the plane, scattered across an open field.

Early reports from local sources like Saam TV state that Ajit Pawar and his security guards are safe, having narrowly escaped the crash. However, some other reports (like NDTV Marathi) mentioned that he was being evaluated as "injured" or in a serious situation immediately following the impact.

Ajit Pawar during a swearing-in ceremony of Shiv Sena party leader Uddhav Thackeray in Mumbai. File/Reuters

Emergency services and senior security officials have reached the site in Baramati. Rescue teams were deployed immediately after the aircraft lost control during the landing phase.

Amid ongoing elections to the Zilla Parishads and Panchayat Samitis, Dy CM Ajit Pawar was travelling from Mumbai to Baramati to attend a public meeting.

A supporter of Ajit Pawar pays homage near his photograph at the Nationalist Congress Party office in Mumbai. AP

"At first it ​was on fire, after that there were four or five more explosions," an unidentified witness told the ANI news agency, after seeing the plane crash ​and ‍explode. But the flames were too fierce to pull anyone out, ‌he added.

Pawar backed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party in the state government, leading a faction that split in 2023 from the opposition ​Nationalist Congress ‌Party.

In a post on X, Modi said Pawar's death was "shocking and saddening". Media said Pawar's aircraft, travelling from the financial capital of Mumbai, tried to make an emergency landing in the family stronghold of ‌Baramati, 250 km (155 miles) away, where he was set to canvass in the elections. Reuters holds a minority stake in ANI.

Agencies