Five Indian air force personnel were killed when a military plane crashed while landing at a base in the country’s remote northeast on Saturday, the military said in a statement.

“The Indian Air Force deeply regrets the loss of five personnel in the An-32 accident at Jorhat”, a city in Assam state, the air force said in a statement.

It did not say how many people were on board at the time, or whether there were any survivors.

However, an air force official, speaking on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to brief the media, told AFP the co-pilot had survived.

News channel NDTV broadcast images of the crash site, showing a thick black plume of smoke and the aircraft apparently broken into pieces.

The air force said it “extends its deepest condolences to the bereaved families and stands firmly with them in this hour of grief”.

It said earlier that the Russian-made Antonov An-32 was on a “routine sortie” when it crashed as it came in to land.

“A court of inquiry is being constituted, to ascertain the cause of the accident,” the air force said.

The An-32, a twin-engine turboprop, is specially designed to perform well at high altitudes and in extreme climates.

The Indian air force operates about 100 of them for military supplies and civilian aid in the country’s remotest mountain areas.

The last major crash involving the plane occurred in 2019 in Arunachal Pradesh state, near the border with China, when 13 people were killed.