Agencies/New Delhi

A small paramilitary jet crashed soon after takeoff near the airport in Delhi yesterday, killing all 10 people on board, officials said.
The twin-engine turboprop aircraft belonging to the Border Security Force went down after hitting a wall outside the airport and burst into flames.
“All the crew on board have died in the crash,” Civil Aviation Minister Mahesh Sharma said.
“It’s a matter of grave concern that the plane crashed soon after takeoff. I am extremely sad to say that all 10 people including the pilot have died,” Sharma told reporters. The aircraft hit the wall of a sewage treatment plant just outside the airport boundary, a member of the fire services on the scene said.
“It is not clear yet what caused the accident. We have ordered an inquiry,” he added. The plane was over 20 years old.
There were two pilots and eight technicians, all men, on board. The plane was due to fly from Delhi to the eastern city of Ranchi. The technicians were to repair a helicopter in Ranchi.
Images on television channels showed flames and thick black smoke rising from the debris.
The crash site is about 500m from the airstrip used by security forces, that is in the same complex as the city’s main international airport. “We saw the plane spiralling and crashing down near the wall where some labourers were working. A labourer was injured,” local resident Rohit Saini told news channels.
This was the second accident in and around Indian airports yesterday. Early in the day, a shuttle bus crashed into an Air India passenger plane parked at Kolkata airport but no one was injured, NDTV reported.