After malfunctioning shortly after taking off a US fighter jet smashed into a Virginia Beach apartment complex, which resulted in a spectacular crash sending flames and black smoke flowing from the rubble.
The two pilots were able to eject from the jet shortly before the impact, and suffered minor injuries along with 5 others who were on the ground.
A loud explosion was heard by several residents and they said when they looked out of their windows they saw the orange and red blaze.
During the ensuing confusion, two men helped one of the bloodied pilots to move to safety.
Felissa Ezell 71, who lives in a townhouse close to the crash site, said ‘Oh, my God, I heard three really loud explosions, and then the black smoke went up high in the sky.’
By the evening there were emergency crews searching through the remains of the complex, where there have been some 40 apartments either damaged or destroyed. There have been no reported fatalities.
There have been 7 people, including the pilots from the nearby Naval Air Station Oceana, who were taken to hospital. All of these except one of the pilots had been released by late afternoon.
Captain Mark Weisberger with the US Fleet Forces Command said that the plan had dumped loads of fuel before it had crashed, although this was not clear whether it was because of a malfunction or it was an intentional manoeuvre by the pilots.
The jet was less than 10 miles from Oceana when it went down. Bruce Nedelka, the Virginia Beach EMS division chief, has said that witnesses had seen fuel being dumped from the jet before it went down, and that fuel had been found on buildings and vehicles in the area.
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