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An Indian Air Force Jaguar pilot jettisoned fuel tanks of his aircraft after one of the engines of the fighter jet failed after being hit by a bird.

However, the pilot managed to land the plane safely at the Ambala Air Base.

Small practice bombs jettisoned by the aircraft have also been recovered, news agency ANI reported.

The prompt action of an Indian Air Force (IAF) pilot saved his Jaguar fighter jet on Thursday morning.

The pilot was going for a training mission when the aircraft got hit by a bird.

The pilot made an emergency landing in Ambala immediately when the aircraft suffered a bird hit after the takeoff.

No casualties have been reported in the incident so far.

IAF aircraft suffers engine failure mid-air, lands safely in Ambala

Prompt action by an Indian Air Force (IAF) pilot saved his Jaguar fighter aircraft after it suffered a bird hit soon after taking off from the Ambala air base and landed back safely on Thursday morning. pic.twitter.com/wiw3UQOy2g — Dogra Herald (@DograEditor) June 27, 2019

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh earlier this week claimed that the Indian Air Force has so far lost 33 aircraft, which includes 19 fighter jets, in crashes since 2015-16.

An An-32 helicopter of the IAF crashed in Arunachal Pradesh just minutes before taking off on June 3, killing all 13 Air Force personnel on board.

During 2015-16, as many as four IAF fighter jets met with accidents, which included one helicopter, a transporter and a trainer aircraft. Six fighter jets, two helicopters and one trainer crashed in 2016-17 while in 2017-18, the IAF lost two fighter jets and three trainer aircraft in crashes, Singh told Parliament on Wednesday.

However, 2018-19 saw a spike in those numbers after the two IAF helicopters, two trainer aircraft, seven fighter jets, which also included an MiG-21 fighter jet that was brought down when Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman engaged in a dogfight with Pakistan Air Force fighter jets on February 27. Incidentally, the very same morning, as Mi-17 helicopter also crashed, killing six IAF personnel.