BAKU, July 25. /TASS/. A MiG-29 plane of the Azerbaijani Air Force has crashed during a training flight, a search operation to rescue the pilot is underway, Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry reported on Thursday.

"On July 24 at around 22:00 local time (21:00 Moscow time), contact was suddenly lost with a MiG-20 aircraft of the Azerbaijani Air Force, which was performing a training mission at night. It disappeared from radar screens. According to a preliminary version, the warplane crashed and fell into the Caspian Sea," the ministry's press service said.

According to the Defense Ministry, a search and rescue operation is underway. A commission has been set up to investigate the cause of the crash.