The aircraft was one of three that had taken off from Bikaner's Nal air base, about 250 kilometres (155 miles) from Jodhpur on a routine flight, police said.

The pilot who bailed out was taken to a military hospital for a medical examination, he added.

More than 100 Indian air force pilots have died in the past decade mainly due to crashes of the Russian made MiG jets, which are so accident-prone they have been nicknamed "flying coffins" in India.

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