A Belarusian fighter jet crashed during an air show in Poland, killing both pilots, officials said.
A Belarusian fighter jet has crashed during an air show in central Poland, killing both pilots on board the two-seater plane, officials said.
The Su-27 jet went down while performing manoeuvres on Sunday at a festival in Radom, 105km south of Warsaw.
Footage broadcast on state television in Poland showed the plane turning in the air, then dropping behind trees. A giant cloud of black smoke appeared on the horizon. The Su-27 was not near the tarmac or crowds attending the air show when it crashed.
The two Belarusian pilots were killed, the air show's organisers said in a statement. A joint Polish-Belarusian panel of experts was investigating the cause.
The Belarusian Defence Ministry said the crash was likely caused by birds becoming entangled in an engine.
When the plane began to lose altitude during a stunt flight, the pilots "did not eject and steered the plane away from the town, avoiding graver consequences at the cost of their lives", ministry spokesman Vyacheslav Remenchuk said.
He identified the pilots as Colonel Alexander Morfitsky and Colonel Alexander Zhuravlevich. He said Morfitsky was deputy commander of an air force unit in western Belarus, and Zhuravlevich was deputy commander of a fighter base.
The jet was one of two Belarusian planes taking part in the show. The other aircraft was a transport plane.
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