A piece of the plane wreckage is hoisted by a crane at the crash site of a chartered army plane close to the main airport in New Delhi on Tuesday.
AFP/New Delhi
A chartered Indian aircraft carrying military personnel exploded in a fireball and killed all 10 people on board after crashing on Tuesday near New Delhi's main airport, a minister said.
The small twin-engine plane went up in flames after crashing into a wall shortly after take-off from the capital's Indira Gandhi International airport.
"It's a matter of grave concern that the plane crashed soon after take-off. I am extremely sad to say that all 10 people including the pilot have died," Mahesh Sharma, the junior civil aviation minister, told reporters.
The plane was on its way to Ranchi in the eastern state of Jharkhand and was carrying technicians belonging to India's Border Security Force.
The technicians were to repair a helicopter in Ranchi.
The crash happened at around 9.50 am moments after the pilot lost contact with ground control, A K Sharma, director of Delhi Fire Services, told AFP.
Television footage showed security personnel clearing the area of bystanders as fire engines waited on the side.
The incident took place at Shahabad village in Dwarka area of the capital where the Beechcraft Super King plane crashed into a house and caught fire.
Twenty fire tenders were rushed to the spot to douse the flames.
"The tragic news of the BSF plane crash near the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi is extremely painful. Rushing to the crash site immediately," Home Minister Rajnath Singh tweeted.