MiG-29 Fighter Jet Falls Into Caspian Sea, Pilot Missing - Azerbaijan's Defence Ministry

A search and rescue operation in the Caspian Sea is underway. The defence ministry has created a commission to probe the incident, while military prosecution has launched a criminal investigation over the crash.

According to official information, the pilot went silent during a training mission at around 10:00 p.m. local time (18:00 GMT) on Wednesday.

"On 24 July, at about 22:00, a MiG-29 plane of the Azerbaijani Air Force, which was conducting a training flight, suddenly disappeared from the radar. According to a preliminary version, the plane crashed and fell into the Caspian Sea", the military announced.

The Mikoyan MiG-29 (known by NATO reporting name Fulcrum) is a twin-engine jet fighter that is used by air forces in over 30 countries. According to a World Military Aircraft Inventory report, published in 2014, Azerbaijan had at least 13 MiG-29s in operational use.