Eight French soldiers and two Greeks were killed Monday when an F-16 crashed during a Greek exercises against other aircraft on a training center for elite pilots of NATO in Spain.
accident also caused 21 wounded, ten French and eleven Italians, five suffered extensive burns, and various other injuries, of which three have been discharged and the rest remain under observation.
This took place towards the 15:15 local time (14:15 GMT) at the airbase of Los Llanos, in the province of Albacete , some 250 km southeast of Madrid, which is used as a training center for pilots Alliance Atlantic and where they are parked aircraft from various countries.
The Greek tickets as part of the Tactical Leadership Programme, a program of NATO to improve multinational cooperation in air operations, “proceeded to perform an exercise when during takeoff maneuver has lost strength “for unknown reasons, explained the Spanish ministry statement.
Out of his career, he finished” crashing into the parking of airplanes crashing into some aircraft He was stationed there, “he added. The two Greek pilots had the rank of captain, while among the French had three captains and a lieutenant. French President François Hollande expressed regret to confirm the news on Monday night in a statement.
The accident affected at least six aircraft a Mirage 2000 Alfa-Jet and two French and two Italian AMX, he said later, as well as Greek F.16 that caused the disaster.
Television pictures showed thick black smoke rising from the remains of at least one unit in flames, while Firefighters and rescuers came to the area cordoned off.
It was necessary to put out the fire before it can estimate the number of victims and “assess the damage that may have occurred in other aircraft of NATO,” according the Spanish ministry.
“It seems that there are two people who have died are of Greek nationality and eight French,” said at 21:00 local time (20:00 GMT) head of government, Conservative Mariano Rajoy, interviewed live on the private TV channel Telecinco.
“I’ve been talking to the Minister of Defence, we have made throughout the afternoon (…) there are enough wounded, he tells me about ten French, eleven Italians, “he said, adding that it was too early to be definitive data. For its part, the French Defense Ministry confirmed the death toll.
“A tragedy” for NATO
Five of the wounded were transferred to Madrid for treatment in major burn unit of the hospital in La Paz. The rest were admitted to the University Hospital of Albacete , said the ministry. The other participants in the maneuvers, Spanish, German, British and American, were not damaged in the accident.
The Chief of Staff of the Air, Francisco Javier Garcia Arnaiz, accompanied by members of the Commission Technical Accident Investigation Military Aircraft, was the first to move to Los Llanos to follow the developments, the ministry said.
He followed the Spanish defense minister, Pedro Morenés, and Rajoy announced that Tuesday it would also make the French minister and probably the Italian minister.
“This is a tragedy for the family of NATO,” said for his part, Secretary General of NATO, the Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg, declaring himself “deeply saddened” in a statement from Brussels. “I express my deepest condolences to the relatives and the nations of those who lost their lives and wish a quick recovery to the wounded,” he said.
Also Rajoy had declared “moved by the tragic accident in the airbase in Los Llanos “in a broadcast shortly after the tragedy in his official account on Twitter message.
According to the website of the base of Los Llanos, it hosts since 2010, a training center NATO. “It is a flying school that welcomes ten different countries,” said a ministry spokesman.
The center, whose training for fighter pilots is considered one of the most reputable and most demanding in the world, trains pilots in several specialties, including electronic warfare, reconnaissance and aerial combat. The Commission on Military Technical Research Aircraft (CITAAM) investigates the causes of the accident.
Meanwhile, at the judicial level working on the case the Court Togado # 13 of Valencia and a team of judicial police Civil Guard. Has decreed the secret of their actions.
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