A still image taken from a video shows rescue workers in the scene where a military F18 fighter plane crashed before taking off at Torrejon airbase in Torrejon de Ardoz, outside Madrid, Spain. — Reuters photo
MADRID: An F18 fighter jet crashed on takeoff at a military base near Madrid yesterday, killing the pilot – the second time a military plane has come down in Spain in a week.
“The pilot of the airplane has died as a consequence of the accident, which happened during take-off,” the Spanish defence ministry said in a tweet following the crash near the Torrejon de Ardoz base, around 20 kilometres from Madrid.
“Rescue teams are on their way to the scene of the accident,” a ministry spokesman told AFP, adding that the cause of the crash was as yet unknown.
The accident came just days after the pilot of a Eurofighter jet was killed Thursday on the approach to landing at a military base at Albacete, 300 kilometres southeast of the capital.— AFP