Two houses in Harohalli in ISRO Layout, including a farmer’s house, bore the brunt soon after the crash of two Suryakiran Hawk aircraft.
“I was stacking hay for my cows when I heard a blast. A part of one of the planes crashed in front of my cow shed on to my doghouse, killing my dog,” said Venkatesh, a farmer. The part of the plane was engulfed in flames, burning at least five tractor loads of ragi hay meant for his cattle, he said.
Venkatesh told DH he saw the two pilots who had ejected from the planes on a double road near his farmland. One of them landed into thorny bushes and was injured and the locals rushed for his help. While some of the locals were trying to help him by giving water and fanning books and towels at him, the pilot said in Hindi that his team was on the way and he did not need anything.
A few undergraduates staying at the Government Boys Hostel very close to Venkatesh’s farmhouse were the eyewitness to the incident. Sumith O Naik (19), his friends Srinath N (24), and Shivakumar Ronad (23) were standing on the terrace of the hostel to witness the rehearsal. “I saw the wings of the planes touch each other and both planes lost control. We also saw two pilots ejecting and the planes looked like they will hit our hostel,” said Sumith.