France: A Belgian F-16 fighter jet on Thursday crashed in western France, damaging a house and setting a field ablaze.
The crash left a pilot suspended for two hours from a high-voltage electricity line after his parachute got ensnared in the wire.
However, emergency workers pulled out the pilot safely after cutting off power in the area. He was then taken to a nearby hospital for medical examination and treatment, as per the sources.
Notably, there were two pilots on the board, and both ejected before the plane caught fire. One of them was safely rescued but the other got stuck on the power line.
The Belgian Air Force revealed that both the pilots managed to eject from the aircraft and were “slightly injured”.
The authorities evacuated the surrounding homes during the rescue operation as the pilot was being taken down and firefighters battled the blaze from the crash.
According to an eye witness, Ludovic Kauffer, one of the plane’s wings sliced the roof and facade of a house in the town of Pluvigner, in Brittany, before falling down into a neighbouring farm field.
Mr Kauffer was at work at the time of the accident, but his parents were home who described to him the “booms” of the crash.
“My mother is in shock, my father is too,” he said.
The plane was travelling from Belgium to a naval airbase in France when it came down between the towns of Pluvigner and Landaul.
In brief, the air force officials maintained that the plane itself was not armed.