India, Aug. 27 -- A private training aircraft crashed in Kanpur on Thursday morning, police said, adding that the pilot and the co-pilot died on the spot.

The cause of the crash is yet to be ascertained.

The incident took place near the Ganga barrage in Natthupurwa village in Katri area. The deceased were identified as instructor Sachin Bhatia, a resident of Gujarat, and trainee pilot Abhishek Pujari from Karnataka, police commissioner Raghubir Lal said.

According to Lal, the aircraft took off from the training centre at around 11.30am and crashed 20 minutes later, while on its way back.

The twin-engine Tecnam aircraft was brought to the centre for training in 2023 by the flight training school.

Bhatia had around 3,000 hours of flyin...