Pakistan Air Force fighter plane crashes near Karachi
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
Islamabad, May 18, IRNA
Pakistan-Aircraft-Crash
A French-made Mirage fighter plane of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) crashed near the port city of Karachi on Thursday, but the pilot ejected safely, a PAF spokesman said.
The plane was on a routine operational training mission and came down some 80 kilometers northwest of Karachi due to technical problems, the PAF spokesman, Commodore Sarfaraz Ahmed, said.
There was no casualty or damage on the ground, he said.
Pakistan Air Force has constituted a board of inquiry to determine the cause of the crash.
Pakistan's arsenal of Mirages is the second biggest after France, which is not only maintaining a big fleet of Mirages but is also overhauling the planes of the PAF and air forces of several friendly countries including the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Besides Mirages, PAF's fleet currently comprises US-origin F-16s and Chinese-made F-7s, F-7PGs and A-5s.
Pakistan is also set to begin serial production of the JF-17 (Thunder) aircraft this year, which it manufactured jointly with China.
Several crashes have hit the Pakistan Air Force in recent years.
Another PAF Mirage jet crashed near Karachi in April.
A Chinese-made F-7 jet crashed due to technical problems near the northwestern town of Attock also in April. The pilot of the F-7 jet was killed.
2020/235/2321/1414
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