A MiG-21 fighter plane of the Indian Air Force on Tuesday crashed in the Basantgarh-Mahore hills of Jammu and Kashmir's Reasi district with two pilots on board still reported missing, defence sources said.

The fighter took off from Udhampur airbase on Tuesday morning on a routine training sortie. It lost contact with the Air Traffic Control when it was flying over the hills of Basantgarh-Mahore, they said.

The aircraft is feared to have crashed and search is on to locate the wreckage and the missing pilots.