India's Maharashtra deputy CM dies in aircraft crash

The deputy chief minister of India’s Maharashtra died in a plane crash on Wednesday morning along with four others, NDTV reported.

The plane carrying Ajit Pawar, who was also the Nationalist Congress Party's chief, was 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.

With four others on board, the deputy chief minister was travelling in a privately operated chartered plane, according to Indian media reports.

Two pilots and as many security personnel also lost their lives in the crash.

Video showed billows of smoke rising from some of the burning wreckage of the plane, scattered across an open field.

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

Others who died in the crash were identified as pilots, Sumit Kapur and Shambhavi Pathak, and politician's security staffer Vidhit Jadhav.

"The aircraft crashed at the threshold of Runway 11 at 08:48am (IST) and burst into flames. There are no survivors," Hindustan Times reported, quoting a Mumbai airport official.

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.

The incident adds to a string of recent aviation tragedies in India. On June 12 last year, Air India Flight 171, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, crashed just 30 seconds after taking off from Ahmedabad, claiming 260 lives and leaving only one survivor.

In another case, in November 2025, an Indian Air Force (IAF) HAL Tejas fighter jet went down during an aerial display at the Dubai Air Show, killing the pilot. The aircraft crashed while performing a manoeuvre for spectators at Al Maktoum International Airport.