‘Could not pull people out due to massive fire’: Eyewitness to Baramati plane crash mourns Ajit Pawar’s demise

BARAMATI (Maharashtra): An eyewitness to the Baramati plane crash mourned the demise of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and said that the locals could not rescue the people on board as the plane got engulfed in a massive fire.

Describing the tragic incident, the man said that there were at least four explosions following the crash-landing of the aircraft.

The eyewitness said, “This is really painful. When the aircraft descended, it seemed it would crash, and it did crash. It then exploded. There was a massive explosion. After that, we rushed here and saw that the aircraft was on fire. There were four to five explosions in the aircraft again. More people came here, and they tried to pull the people out (of the aircraft). But since this was a huge fire, people could not help. Ajit Pawar was onboard and this is really painful for us. I can’t describe it in words”.

#WATCH | A plane crash reported in Baramati, Maharashtra. More details awaited.

Visuals from the spot. pic.twitter.com/xkx0vtY5cp

— ANI (@ANI) January 28, 2026

The small chartered aircraft, which took off from Mumbai around 8 am, crashed near Baramati airport during a landing attempt 45 minutes later. Visuals from the crash spot showed fire and smoke spewing from the remains of the plane. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation said all five passengers on board died in the crash.

Pawar was headed to Baramati to attend a public rally for the Zilla Parishad elections when his plane crashed. Pawar was in Mumbai on January 27, where he attended a meeting of the Maharashtra Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure, chaired by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. Maharashtra Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule and other officials were also present.

An emotional Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Arvind Sawant expressed grief over the tragic demise of Ajit Pawar. “It is very sad news,” Sawant said, adding that the entire Pawar family is shattered by the news. I always did what he said. He was a bold man. He had a big role in the development of the Baramati region. I express my condolences to the entire Pawar family”.

Ajit Pawar (66) was the nephew of veteran politician and NCP founder Sharad Pawar, and the cousin of Lok Sabha MP Supriya Sule. Most of the MPs were in the national capital to attend the Budget Session of Parliament, which begins today.

Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi said, “This is very shocking, painful and heart-rending. There have been differences between us, but we have worked together. He was a really committed man who kept to his work. I express my sympathies to Pawar sahab, Supriya ji, Sunetra ji, Parth and Jay. I also express sympathies to lakhs and crores of people in Baramati. Going away like this is very painful”.

Ajit Pawar was the longest-serving Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra non-consecutively. He served in the position for six terms within various governments. He had worked as deputy chief minister in the cabinets of Prithviraj Chavan, Devendra Fadnavis, Uddhav Thackeray and Eknath Shinde.

He is survived by his wife Sunetra Pawar and two sons Jay and Parth Pawar. (ANI)