An accident involving two military aircraft occurred at noon on Wednesday (14/8) in the airspace of the French prefecture of Mert-et-Moselle, east of Paris, as the prefecture said in a press release sent to the media.
According to Le Parisien sources from the Air Force, these are two Rafales from the transformation squadron of the Saint-Dizier air base.
One of the pilots was ejected from his seat before the two planes collided. He is safe and unharmed. On the other hand, the instructor and trainee pilot who were on board the second one were still missing and wanted.
The information about the collision of warplanes was confirmed by the Minister of the Armed Forces, Sebastien Lecorny, with his post on X (formerly Twitter).
An accident involving two Rafales from the Rafale 3/4 “Aquitaine” Transformation Squadron took place in Meurthe et Moselle.
One of the pilots has been found, he is safe and sound. The search is still ongoing. Thanks to our armed forces as well as to the gendarmes mobilized in the…
— Sébastien Lecornu (@SebLecornu) August 14, 2024
In the relevant briefing to journalists, the prefecture of Mert-y-Moselle said that “the operational center of the department is being activated to support the armed forces to coordinate the investigation.” He urged citizens to avoid the area and to respect the instructions of the authorities.
“Search operations for the pilots have begun by the gendarmerie team, the fire and rescue service, the national forest service and ADRASEC (national federation of radio amateurs serving civil security),” concluded the press release, according to which the army and authorities will inform about the causes of the accident.
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