Plane crash in India kills Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar

Kathmandu: The deputy chief minister of India’s Maharashtra state, Ajit Pawar, has died in a plane crash.

Aljazeera cited the Directorate General of Civil Aviation as saying the plane, which took off from Mumbai on Wednesday morning, crashed during the landing at the airport in Pawar’s constituency of Baramati.

Along with Pawar, two prominent staff members of the politician and two crew members also lost their lives. The official cause of the crash has not been confirmed yet.

Pawar was on his way to attend a public rally for the Zilla Parishad elections. He was the nephew of veteran politician Sharad Pawar.

An online flight tracking service, FlightRadar, said the plane crashed while attempting a second approach to Baramati Airport.

According to the Times of India, the aviation regulator officials said the plane crashed at 8:45 am local time. VSR was operating the plane, a Learjet 45.