Saudi air force Tornado fighter jet crashes on a training mission

Saudi air force Tornado bomber crashed on a training mission but both the pilot and co-pilot ejected ahead of the crash and are safe, Saudi media reported Monday. The aircraft crashed at midday on Sunday in the desert next to a busy expressway in the Eastern Province, due to mechanical problems, newspapers said.

"Nobody died or was injured as a result of the accident, which was caused by a technical fault," local civil defence spokesman Captain Ali Mubarak al-Qahtani said, according to Arab News.

Two British-supplied Saudi air force Tornados crashed in separate accidents in 2001, Arab News said.

The Saudi government has this month used Tornado planes in a bombing campaign against Yemeni Huthi rebels who crossed the border into Saudi Arabia, according to a government advisor.

Posted in: Fighter jet,Saudi Arabia