MiG-21 Crash: A MiG-21 aircraft crashed last night i.e. on July 28 in Barmer, Rajasthan. Both the pilots were martyred in this accident.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has expressed grief over the accident. The Air Force has also ordered a Court of Inquiry.

But the question is, how long will the MiG-21, which is called the 'Flying Coffin', keep flying and for how long the promising young pilots of the country will continue to be martyred like this.

A MiG-21 aircraft crashed during a training flight on Thursday night near Barmer, Rajasthan. The IAF said that the two-seater MiG-21 trainer aircraft was taking off from the Uttarlai airport

MiG-21 crashed near Bhimda village of Barmer

Air Force fighter plane MiG-21 crashed near Bhimda village of Barmer at around 9.10 pm on Thursday. The accident was so terrible that the plane got blown up and its debris was scattered for about half a kilometre.

Both the pilots bravely diverted the plane towards the deserted area even after the fire broke out without caring for their lives.

Due to which the populated area was saved from being hit by it. If the plane had fallen in a place where there was a population, the accident could have been even bigger.

Oldest aircraft in the IAF fleet

• MiG-21 is one of the advanced fighter aircraft of the Soviet era.

• MiG-21 made its first flight in the year 1955

• The MiG-21 aircraft was inducted into the IAF in the year 1963.

• Being one of the most advanced aircraft of that time, India had included a total of 874 MiG-21 aircraft in its fleet.

• From 1966 to 2012, out of a total of 872 MiG-21 aircraft, 482 crashed, due to which 171 pilots have been martyred while 39 civilians also died.

• Talking about the year 2013-2021, a total of 20 MiG-21 have crashed.