“The aircraft were on routine operational flying training mission. An inquiry has been ordered to determine the cause of the accident,” it said in a tweet.

“I can confirm that two aircraft belonging to the Indian Air Force crashed in our jurisdiction,” said A. K. Verma, a local administrator in Madhya Pradesh state. It wasn’t immediately clear what caused the jets to crash.

Two of the three crew members from one jet were rescued and rushed to hospital, said another local administrator, Ankit Asthana. The status of the third crew member wasn’t immediately clear, while no details were released on the crew of the second plane.

Verma said defence ministry officials were heading to the crash site. Local reports said a Sukhoi-30 aircraft and a Mirage 2000 jet had crashed.

Officials in the federal defence ministry said they were gathering details from the Rajasthan crash site and a team has been rushed to the location from the nearest Air Force stations.