Bengaluru: Two Surya Kiran aircraft crashed at the Yelahanka airbase here on Tuesday while rehearsing for the Aero India 2019 air show, an official said.

‘Two pilots were airlifted soon after the crash,’ said an airbase official, reports the IANS.

The reports said the aircraft  came down during a rehearsal for an airshow  in Bengaluru city of  India.

Fate of the pilots was still not known.

‘Two aircraft of the Surya Kiran Aerobatics Team crash at the Yelahanka airbase in Bengaluru, during rehearsal for #AeroIndia2019,’ India’s ANI news agency reported.

Crashes involving fighter planes are not uncommon in India which is in the midst of upgrading its Soviet-era military.

Most of the accidents involve the MiGs that India bought decades ago from the Soviet Union, earning it the unflattering ‘flying coffin’ tag.

India is investing billions of dollars in modernising its air force as fears grow over increasing cooperation between its arch-rival Pakistan and China.