Two Greek F-16 fighter planes missing
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-10-15 10:45

Two Greek F-16 fighter jets each with a crew of two aboard disappeared from radar screens Thursday, an air force spokesman said.

The planes were on a training flight near Pilio mountain, central Greece, according to spokesman Constantinos Prionas.

It was still unclear whether the planes crashed or whether their pilots ejected to safety.

Crashes are relatively frequent in the Greek air force. The country's airforce chief of staff was sacked in September, following the crash of a military helicopter that killed the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria and 16 others, including priests and military crew members.

A Mirage 2000 warplane crashed in the Aegean sea in a training flight in September but the pilot escaped injuries by ejecting to safety.

In November 2003, another military aircraft of the same type on a training flight crashed into the Aegean while a month earlier, an A-7 Corsair went down in southwestern Greece after mechanical failure. Its pilots escaped without injury.

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