Flames engulf the MiG-21 after it crashed near Chabua airbase in Dibrugarh on Thursday. Picture by Eastern Projections

Dibrugarh, June 18: A MiG-21 today crashed in a field in Dibrugarh district of Upper Assam this afternoon, minutes after take-off from Chabua air base. The lone pilot bailed out using a parachute.

A ball of fire engulfed the fighter plane soon after it crashed at Koilabari village around 1.20pm, five minutes after it took off from the air force base.

“The possibility of a technical snag is being investigated and can be confirmed once the probe is over,” an official of the Indian Air Force said.

Bhaskar Jyoti Baruah, who was ploughing his fields on a tractor, saw the plane crash and the pilot paratrooping out.

“There was a huge explosion and then I saw fire; two parachutes landed but it was not immediately figured out whether there were two persons,” Baruah said.

The IAF official later clarified that there was only one pilot who had to use his second emergency parachute as the first one did not function properly.

“Two parachutes spawned confusion; actually there was only one pilot who is now absolutely fine. All medical check-ups have been carried out following the regulations,” the official said.

Black box found: The air force today claimed to have recovered the black box of the AN-32 transport aircraft that crashed on June 9 in Arunachal Pradesh, killing all 13 persons on board, according to a PTI report from New Delhi.

“The black box which was recovered last night, has been taken to the Jorhat air base in Assam for analysis,” air force sources said in New Delhi.

“If the analysis facility in Jorhat is not able to decode the black box, it will then be taken to the nearest base repair depot,” sources added.

The air force’s cargo airplane crashed after taking off from Mechuka in West Siang district of Arunachal Pra-desh. India has signed a $ 400 billion deal with Ukraine for modernising the ageing fleet of AN-32s.

A AN-32 crashed in February 2000 at the Vijaynagar advanced landing ground in Arunachal Pradesh.

Another aircraft of this type went down near Palam airport here in March 1999, killing 21 personnel on board.

In 1992, two AN-32 transport aircraft collided mid air during formation flying.