An eyewitness to the Baramati plane crash condoled the demise of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and said that the local people could not save the people on board the plane due to the massive fire.
Describing the tragic incident, the man said there were at least four explosions after the plane crash-landed.
“It’s very painful. When the plane was descending, it looked like it was going to crash, and it crashed. Then it exploded. There was a huge bang. After that, we immediately reached here and saw that the plane was on fire,” the eyewitness told ANI.
“There were four-five more explosions in the plane. More people came here and tried to take people out (from the plane). But since it was a massive fire, people could not help. Ajit Pawar was on board the plane and it is very painful for us. I can’t explain it in words,” he said.
The small charter plane, which took off from Mumbai around 8 am, crashed near Baramati airport while attempting to land 45 minutes later. Pictures obtained from the crash site showed fire and smoke coming from the wreckage of the plane. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation said that all five passengers on board the plane died in the accident.
Pawar was on his way to attend a public meeting in Baramati for the Zilla Parishad elections when his plane crashed. Pawar was in Mumbai on January 27, where he attended the meeting of the Maharashtra Cabinet’s Committee on Infrastructure chaired by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. Maharashtra Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule and other officials were also present.
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Arvind Sawant emotionally condoled the tragic demise of Ajit Pawar.
“This is very sad news,” Sawant said, adding that the entire Pawar family is shocked by the news. He said, “I always listened to him. He was a courageous man. He had a big role in the development of Baramati region. I express my deepest condolences to the Pawar family.”
Ajit Pawar, 66, was the nephew of veteran politician and NCP founder Sharad Pawar and cousin of Lok Sabha MP Supriya Sule.
Most of the MPs were present in the national capital to attend the budget session of Parliament, which begins today.
Ajit Pawar has been the longest serving Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, and this tenure has not been continuous. He held the post of Deputy Chief Minister six times in different governments. He served as Deputy Chief Minister in the cabinets of Prithviraj Chavan, Devendra Fadnavis, Uddhav Thackeray and Eknath Shinde. He is survived by his wife Sunetra Pawar and two sons Jai and Parth Pawar.
