A Mirage-2000 aircraft crashed at HAL Airport premises on Friday morning around 10.30 AM while on a routine sortie. According to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), both pilots were ejected but later declared brought dead.

Additional commissioner east, Seemanth Kumar Singh, confirmed both deaths. The pilots have been identified as Sq. Leader Siddharth Negi and Sq. Leader Abrol.

"Today morning a Mirage 2000 trainer aircraft on an acceptance sortie after upgrade by HAL crashed at HAL airport, Bengaluru. Both occupants sustained fatal injuries. Further details are awaited. Investigation into the cause of the accident is being ordered," a statement said.

According to doctors at HAL hospital, one of the pilots was brought to the facility within 20 minutes of the accident but was brought dead. The condition of the second pilot who was critical succumbed as well.  

 

#Visuals: Mirage 2000 trainer fighter aircraft of HAL crashes at HAL Airport in Bengaluru, one pilot dead. #Karnataka pic.twitter.com/oM4CUEPu97

— ANI (@ANI) February 1, 2019

Thick smoke enveloped the area where the crash occurred and several videos of the incident could be seen online on social media. The HAL airport is surrounded by many apartments and residences and citizens took to social media posting videos and pictures of the crash. 

HAL, in a tweet, confirmed that the plane was a Mirage-2000 and that the incident happened during a routine sortie. The Mirage-2000 is a single-engine fighter aircraft developed by French company Dassault and used by the Indian Air Force. In 2012, two 2-seater trainer air-crafts had crashed in February and March of that year. The first Mirage was delivered in 1985 and the aircraft also took part in the Kargil war of 1999.