MAHAJAN (India), October 16 (RIA Novosti) - The defense ministers of Russia and India narrowly escaped being hit by a misguided airdrop as they supervised a joint military exercise in the Indian state of Rajasthan Sunday.
A mortar-landing craft dropped from an Indian Air Force An-32 jet landed just a few meters away from the stalls where Russia's Sergei Ivanov and India's Pranab Mukherjee sat watching the exercise. But despite the danger, the two ministers did not lose composure and remained seated, RIA Novosti's local correspondent reported.
Commenting on the incident to the media, Ivanov downplayed its seriousness, saying "the point where airdrop loads will land is almost impossible to precalculate with precision," and praised as "excellent" the performance of pilots and paratroopers involved in the exercise.
