Two Air Force jets crash in western Finland
Two Finnish Air Force fighter jets collided over western Finland shortly after noon on Wednesday. The pilots were both able to eject themselves from the planes and descend by parachute.
The planes were British-made Hawk fighter jets from the Finnish Air Force's Training Air Wing in Kauhava. The crashes occurred to the north-east of the base. The wreckage of the aircraft has been located. One of the pilots has so far been found and hospitalised.
One of the crashes apparently occurred in Lestijärvi, some 100 kilometres north-east of Kauhava, and the other in Salamajärvi National Park in Perho. According to Yle's sources, one of the planes was found in a field and the other in a bog.
The Training Air Wing has used British-made Hawk aircraft for some 30 years. The Air Force has been running low-light flying exercises across western Finland this week.
