Ajit Pawar, the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, died along with four others after a charter aircraft crashed and caught fire on Wednesday, according to India’s aviation regulator. The Learjet 45 was travelling from Mumbai and was reportedly attempting an emergency landing near Baramati, Pawar’s home region, when it went down in an open field.
Two members of Pawar’s staff and two crew were also on board. “No person on board has survived,” the Directorate General of Civil Aviation said in a preliminary statement. The cause of the crash is yet to be determined.
Video footage from the scene showed thick smoke rising from burning wreckage scattered across the field. A witness told ANI that the aircraft burst into flames followed by several explosions, making rescue impossible.
Pawar, a senior leader who led a faction that split from the Nationalist Congress Party in 2023, had backed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP in the state government. Modi described his death as “shocking and saddening.”
