PTC News Desk: A 23-year-old Indian was among the two student pilots who lost their lives in a tragic incident in which their planes collided mid-air in Canada's Manitoba, India's Consulate General in Toronto said. 

The incident took place on Tuesday when two single-engine aircraft collided about 400 metres from a runway used by Harv's Air pilot school near Steinbach South Airport in Canada's southern Manitoba.

The deceased pilots have been identified as a 21-year-old Sreehari Sukesh, a resident of Kerala and his classmate Savanna May Royes, a 20-year-old Canadian citizen. 

"With profound sorrow, we mourn the tragic passing of Mr Sreehari Sukesh, a young Indian student pilot, who lost his life in a mid-air collision near Steinbach, Manitoba. We extend our deepest condolences to his family," the Indian Consulate General said in a post on X.

Sreehari had already obtained his private pilot's licence and was pursuing his commercial pilot certification, according to local media reports.

The bodies of the two student pilots were recovered from the wreckage near Steinbach, roughly 50 kilometres Southeast of Winnipeg, the capital of Manitoba province, CBC News reported.

According to Adam Penner, president of Harv's Air pilot training school, the pilots believed to hav attempted to land at the same time, a few metres away from the runway. Their planes were equipped with radios, but it appears that neither pilot saw the other coming.