Indian Navy's aerobatic demonstration team performs a display during preparations for the India Aviation show 2010 in Hyderabad. More than 150 companies are expected to showcase the latest global aerospace technology at the show that runs from March 3rd to 7th.

HYDERABAD (India): An Indian navy plane performing aerobatics at an air show crashed into a building in the city of Hyderabad on Wednesday, killing both pilots and injuring four people on the ground, police said.

A.K. Khan, police commissioner, said the pilot unsuccessfully tried to eject from the Kiran aircraft as it went down and hit a water tank atop a five-story building near Begumpet airport in Hyderabad, the capital of Andhra Pradesh state.

The crash occurred as the plane dived while performing aerobatics, but failed to regain height, television images showed. “In the final phase, the aircraft appears to have gone out of control. They crashed into a building and the pilots have died,” navy chief Admiral Nirmal Verma told reporters. He was unable to say if there were further casualties on the ground.

The accident occurred on the opening day of the India Aviation 2010 show, a five-day civil aviation exhibition.

The plane, a two-seater Kiran MK-II built by state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, was part of a four-plane formation.

Police cordoned off the area and searched for more casualties.

The Indian air force has been plagued by frequent crashes, particularly among its aging Soviet-made MiG fighter aircraft. In January 2009 a similar aircraft went down in the southern state of Karnataka, killing its lone pilot.