Shivpuri: A “metal object” that fell from an Indian Air Force (IAF) aircraft caused severe damage to a house in Madhya Pradesh’s Shivpuri district on Friday, but nobody was injured, police said.
The IAF said it has instituted “an inquiry into the incident”.
“The IAF regrets the damage caused today to property on ground, near Shivpuri, by the inadvertent drop of a non-explosive aerial store from an IAF aircraft, and has instituted an inquiry into the incident,” it said in a post on X.
Earlier in the day, eyewitnesses said a heavy object fell on the roof of the house of Manoj Sagar, a teacher, around 11 am.
Two rooms of the house in Pichhore town were completely damaged and the debris fell on a car parked nearby, officials said. Sagar was having food inside the house with his children, while his wife was in the kitchen, when the roof burst open with a loud explosion and a pit, about eight to 10 feet in depth, was formed in the courtyard, the eyewitnesses said.
The vibrations caused by the explosion were felt in the neighbouring houses too, officials said. Police rushed to the spot and cordoned off the area.
“A heavy metal object fell from the sky from an Air Force jet on the house of Manoj Sagar … Due to which two outer rooms have been damaged. There were four members in the house, all are safe. A team of police and administrative officials is on the spot,” Shivpuri’s Superintendent of Police Aman Singh Rathor said in a social media post.
The incident is being investigated in coordination with the Air Force and other agencies, he added.
Earlier in the day, Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) Prashant Sharma said where the object came from can only be ascertained after a probe. It appeared to be “extremely solid” and had burn marks, he said.
“The Gwalior airbase (of the IAF) has been contacted. Only after an expert team arrives from there, it can be confirmed what this object is and where it fell from,” Sharma said, prior to the IAF’s post on X.
