Fighter jet crashes in China

• A fighter jet crashed in central China’s Hubei province of Xiangyang, killing one person and injuring two others.
• Pilot parachuted to safety and was taken to hospital with the other injured.
• The Chinese civil aviation authority did not immediately determine the cause of the event.

A fighter jet crashed in central China on Thursday, killing one person and injuring two others, as per state media.

According to state broadcaster CCTV, the plane, an Air Force J-7, “had an accident during training and fell in the neighbourhood of an airport… inflicting damage to private dwellings.”

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The cause of the crash in Xiangyang, Hubei province, is being probed, according to CCTV.

The Chinese news agency shared footage of the crash site online, showing flames sending black smoke into the air from a street in Xiangyang.

The accident appeared to have entirely flattened several buildings.

In 2019, two pilots were killed when a navy plane crashed in the island province of Hainan.

A civil aeroplane crashed in the southern province of Guangxi in March of this year, killing 132 people in China’s worst flying catastrophe in decades.

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The Chinese civil aviation authority did not immediately determine the cause of the event and has stated that an inquiry is ongoing.