An army aircraft crash-landed at Mizoram's Lengpui airport's tabletop runway with 14 crew members on board. Four crew members are reported to be critically injured and have been admitted to Lengpui hospital.
The aircraft was deployed to airlift Myanmar army personnel in batches who had fled the country amid conflict with rebels and sought refuge in Mizoram last week.
"All flights to Aizawl airport have been diverted after Myanmar military plane crash," a Mizoram government official said, adding that aviation regulator DGCA has ordered an investigation into the incident. A total of 276 Myanmar army soldiers were transported to Aizawl for repatriation from the Lengpui airport.
The Myanmar aircraft was planned to conduct multiple sorties to transport the army personnel in batches. In the previous year, Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopters transported 104 Myanmar army personnel from various locations in Mizoram to the border town of Moreh in Manipur, facilitating their repatriation.