India's Maharashtra state Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar died on Wednesday morning after the Learjet 45 charter aircraft he was travelling in crashed while attempting to land at Baramati Airport, officials confirmed.

India’s civil aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), said that “as per initial information, no person on board has survived the crash.”

The aircraft, operated by VSR Aviation, was flying from Mumbai, India’s financial capital, to Baramati, a town in the western state of Maharashtra and a political stronghold of Pawar’s family. The plane went down during the landing phase, officials said.

According to the DGCA, the jet was carrying Pawar along with two staff members — including a personal security officer — and two pilots. The Learjet 45 has a seating capacity of six, including the flight crew.

Local officials said emergency services were rushed to the site after the crash, which was followed by a fire. Flights at Baramati airport were temporarily suspended as rescue and recovery operations were carried out.

An eyewitness quoted by local media said the aircraft appeared to overshoot the runway before erupting in an explosion. “They pulled out four to five bodies from the aircraft,” the witness said.

Pawar, a senior leader in India’s Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and nephew of veteran politician Sharad Pawar, was travelling to attend campaign events ahead of local elections in Maharashtra, one of India’s most industrialised and politically influential states. Voting for district and local councils is scheduled for early February.

Sharad Pawar, along with other family members, was in New Delhi at the time of the crash attending the opening of India’s parliamentary budget session and was reported to be travelling to Baramati shortly after the incident.

The cause of the crash was not immediately known. The DGCA said a formal investigation had been launched.