Smoke rises after a Greek F-16 fighter plane crashed during Nato training at the Albacete air base in Albacete. — Reuters photo
MADRID: Eight French and two Greek military personnel died Monday when a Greek fighter jet crashed on takeoff at a military base in Spain housing a Nato training centre for elite pilots.
The two-seat F-16 jet ‘lost power’ as it took off from the base near the southeastern city of Albacete and crashed into an area where other planes were parked, damaging five other aircraft, the defence ministry said in a statement.
Television footage showed flames and thick black smoke billowing from the crash site, as sirens wailed in the background. “It appears that there are two people who died and who have Greek nationality and eight French,” Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said in an interview with private television channel Telecinco.
The two Greek pilots of the crashed plane, both of them captains, are among the dead, the defence ministry said. The French victims include three captains and a lieutenant.
A further 21 people were injured in the accident — 11 Italian nationals and 10 French, the ministry added. Five of the injured suffered major burns and were taken to a specialist unit at a Madrid hospital.
The others suffered different bodily injuries. Three have already been released with the rest under observation.
The Spanish ministry said it took firefighters an hour to put out the fire caused by the jet crash.
The French presidency confirmed the eight deaths and said another six French mechanics had suffered serious burns. French President Francois Hollande “expressed his deep respect for the commitment” of the airmen who were preparing for air force missions to fight “against terrorist groups” in Iraq and the African Sahel region. — AFP