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The Times: Three military pilots die in mid-air collision

Three Spanish air force pilots died this morning when two fighter planes apparently collided during a training exercise over eastern Spain. An investigation has been launched into the cause of the accident involving military F1 jets. One of the French-made fighter jets was a single-seater. The other was designed to hold a crew of two.

“There was an accident this morning involving two F1 Mirage jets from the Albacete military base which were carrying out routine training flights. Three pilots were killed,” said a Spanish defence ministry spokesman.

Another ministry official said however that it was unclear whether the aircraft had collided in mid-air or went down separately.

The ministry launched a search at around 10:15 am (0915 GMT) after it lost radar contact with the planes. About half an hour later teams found the wreckage of the two jets, about 3km (1.8 miles) apart, as well as the bodies of the three pilots.

Carme Chacon, the Spanish Defence Minister, left Madrid for Albacete to view the crash site and to meet relatives of the dead flyers, who were reportedly based at the town of Los Llanos.