Belgian fighter jet crashes in France, pilot hits power line

A Belgian F-16 fighter jet crashed Thursday in western France, damaging a house, setting a field ablaze and leaving a pilot suspended for two hours from a high-voltage electricity line after his parachute got caught, according to French authorities.

Belgium's Defense Ministry said the plane suffered unspecified engine trouble.

Emergency workers extracted the pilot safely after cutting off power in the area, and he was been taken to a nearby hospital for medical checks, a spokesman for the regional administration told The Associated Press.

No one on the ground was hurt. Surrounding homes were evacuated as the pilot was being taken down and firefighters battled the blaze from the crash.

The pilots flagged an "engine technical incident" while traveling from Florennes air base in Belgium to the military airport in the French city of Lorient, the Belgian Defense Ministry said in a statement. It did not elaborate.

One of the plane's wings sliced the roof and facade of a house in the town of Pluvigner, in Britanny, before plunging into a neighboring



farm field, said Ludovic Kauffer, who lives in the house.

Kauffer was at work at the time of the morning accident, but his parents were home and described to him the "booms" of the crash.

"My mother is in shock, my father is too," he told The AP. "The most important thing is that everyone is OK."

The plane was traveling from Belgium to a naval air base in France when it came down between the towns of Pluvigner and Landaul, according to a statement from the regional prefecture, or administration.

Two pilots were aboard, and both ejected before the crash. One was safely rescued but the other got stuck on the power line.

The plane itself was not armed, the statement said.

Local newspaper Le Telegramme showed images of the pilot hanging from the line, black smoke and flames rising from the area and a damaged house.

A national police spokeswoman said about 100 police surrounded the crash site and are investigating what happened. Belgian air safety investigators will head to France to join the probe.