New Delhi  - A female trainee pilot of the Indian Air Force was killed when a jet crashed in India's southern state of Andhra Pradesh, news reports said Tuesday.

The crash occurred on Monday evening near a village in the Medak district some 100 kilometres north of state capital Hyderabad, the Asian Age newspaper reported.

The HPT-32 single-engine aircraft crashed a few minutes after taking off on a routine training mission from the IAF Academy in Dindigul city.

The cadet, identified as Deepika Sharma, suffered fatal injuries and died on the scene, IAF officials said, adding there was no damage to property on the ground.

According to the IAF, this was the third crash of the HPT 32 trainer in the past year and an inquiry has been ordered to probe the cause of the crash.

The aircraft is manufactured by state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).

To reduce the number of accidents involving training aircraft, the IAF recently inducted British-made Hawk trainer jets.

But a brand-new Hawk crashed in the neighbouring state of Karnataka a fortnight ago, putting a question on IAF's efforts to enhance safety in pilot training. (dpa)