A Chinese air force jet crashed into houses during a training mission in central China, killing one person on the ground and injuring two others, state media said.
The report was unusual because China generally keeps military accidents under wraps or emphasizes the heroic role of the pilot in avoiding casualties on the ground.
Foreign governments have over the past few months complained of reckless flying by Chinese fighter jets they said endangered crews on their own military surveillance planes.
The People’s Daily on Thursday reported that the J-7 aircraft went down near an airport in Hubei Province.
The pilot ejected safely, but “some residential buildings were damaged,” the report said.
It did not say when the crash occurred.
The pilot and those injured were taken to hospital, it said, adding that the cause of the crash is under investigation.
The J-7 is an older, single-engine aircraft with its origins in the Soviet MiG-21 dating from the 1950s. It was produced for almost 50 years until production ended in 2013.
Large numbers remain in service to provide regional air protection.
China also sold an export version, the F-7, to more than a dozen countries, many of which have since retired the planes.
China’s civil aviation industry has in past few months come under scrutiny following the still-unexplained crash of a China Eastern Airlines passenger jet on March 21 in which all 132 people on board were killed.
Moreover, a Tibet Airlines flight with 122 people on board was on May 12 departing from the southwestern city of Chongqing when it veered off the runway and caught fire. No one was killed, but several people sustained minor injuries.
Australia and Canada have raised concerns about reckless flying by Chinese fighter pilots.
In a statement on Wednesday last week, the Canadian military said that Chinese planes tried to divert a Canadian long-range patrol aircraft from its path and that the crew had to change direction quickly to avoid a collision.
Australia said a Chinese fighter jet on May 26 committed a dangerous act of aggression against an Australian military plane conducting aerial surveillance in international airspace over the South China Sea.
The Chinese J-16 accelerated and cut in front of the Australian plane, releasing chaff with small bits of aluminum designed to confuse radars that was sucked into the latter’s engine, Australian Minister for Defence Richard Marles said.
China has defended the actions of its pilots and blamed foreign countries for conducting close-in surveillance of its territory to contain Chinese development.
Four people jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed today after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month. Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021. "Let me spend some time with my family," Sham said after arriving at his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan. "I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels
Poland is set to hold a presidential runoff election today between two candidates offering starkly different visions for the country’s future. The winner would succeed Polish President Andrzej Duda, a conservative who is finishing his second and final term. The outcome would determine whether Poland embraces a nationalist populist trajectory or pivots more fully toward liberal, pro-European policies. An exit poll by Ipsos would be released when polls close today at 9pm local time, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Final results are expected tomorrow. Whoever wins can be expected to either help or hinder the
‘A THREAT’: Guyanese President Irfan Ali called on Venezuela to follow international court rulings over the region, whose border Guyana says was ratified back in 1899 Misael Zapara said he would vote in Venezuela’s first elections yesterday for the territory of Essequibo, despite living more than 100km away from the oil-rich Guyana-administered region. Both countries lay claim to Essequibo, which makes up two-thirds of Guyana’s territory and is home to 125,000 of its 800,000 citizens. Guyana has administered the region for decades. The centuries-old dispute has intensified since ExxonMobil discovered massive offshore oil deposits a decade ago, giving Guyana the largest crude oil reserves per capita in the world. Venezuela would elect a governor, eight National Assembly deputies and regional councilors in a newly created constituency for the 160,000
North Korea has detained another official over last week’s failed launch of a warship, which damaged the naval destroyer, state media reported yesterday. Pyongyang announced “a serious accident” at Wednesday last week’s launch ceremony, which crushed sections of the bottom of the new destroyer. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called the mishap a “criminal act caused by absolute carelessness.” Ri Hyong-son, vice department director of the Munitions Industry Department of the Party Central Committee, was summoned and detained on Sunday, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. He was “greatly responsible for the occurrence of the serious accident,” it said. Ri is the fourth person
RSS