LAHORE (PTI): Two Pakistan Air Force pilots were killed when their China-made trainer aircraft crashed in Punjab province on Tuesday.

"A PAF FT-7 aircraft on a routine operational training mission crashed near Mianwali, some 300 kms from Lahore," the PAF said in a statement.

Both pilots – Squadron Leader Haris bin Khalid and Flying Officer Ibaad ur Rehman – lost their lives in the crash, it said.

A board of inquiry has been ordered by the Air Headquarters to determine the cause of accident.

The plane fell in an open area in Mianwali which is also the native town of Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Rescue teams reached the spot and shifted the bodies to the Combined M Military Hospital. Authorities have also cordoned off the area.

According to an official, the pilots did not seem to have got the chance to eject before the crash.

The F-7PG aircraft, based on the Soviet-era Mig-21 and built by a leading Chinese aircraft manufacturer, has a spotty service record in PAF service with the majority of recent crashes involving the aircraft, The Express Tribune reported.

The last trainer plane crash was reported in October 2019 when a Mushshak aircraft belonging to the Army Aviation crash-landed in a paddy field near Wazirabad in Gujranwala district. However, both pilots aboard the plane were unhurt.

In July 2019, a total of 17 people lost their lives when a Pakistan Army aviation aircraft on a routine training flight crashed near Rawalpindi.