Mirage 2000 black box, part of Sukhoi-30 flight data recorder recovered after MP crash

In a major breakthrough for the Indian Air Force, the black box of the Mirage 2000 and a part of the Flight Data Recorder (FDR) of the Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter jets which crashed in Madhya Pradesh's Morena on Saturday have been recovered.

The devices will now be sent to the lab to get the information out of it which will help determine if the two planes crashed mid-air during their training mission.

The pilot of the Mirage 2000 died while the two pilots of the Sukhoi managed to eject safely after the accident. The wreckage of the two jets were spread over Pahargarh in MP and Rajasthan's Bharatpur.

What happened over the skies of Morena?

The two fighter jets had flown from the Gwalior airport, which also serves as an IAF base.

They were both on a routine operational flying training mission when they crashed and the body parts fell in the Pahargarh area of the district. Some debris also fell in the Bharatpur area in Rajasthan, which borders Madhya Pradesh, an IAF officer informed.

"The possible mid-air collision between the two aircraft took place when they were flying a simulated combat mission at very high speeds. More details would come out in the court of inquiry," Defence sources said.