Paris, Oct 22. (dpa/GNA) – The second crew member of a fighter jet that crashed in eastern France near Nancy, has been found dead, the Metz prosecutor’s office said on Thursday, according to French media reports.
“Clues found at the crash site allow two deaths to be confirmed,” the prosecutor’s office said. It added that a DNA analysis was still needed to confirm the identities of the victims.
According to the French Defence Ministry, the aircraft, a Mirage 2000D, crashed late on Tuesday while returning from a mission near the village of Rogéville. Two crew members were on board.
The newspaper L’Est Républicain reported that French Defence Minister, Catherine Vautrin, confirmed the identities of the two dead on Thursday evening. They were a 44-year-old pilot and a 27-year-old trainee pilot.
Initially, only the pilot had been found dead. The cause of the crash remains unknown.
The aircraft had taken off from the Nancy-Ochey air base, the base commander said. It was on a training exercise for a night flight.
The Mirage 2000D is a two-seat, supersonic fighter-bomber designed for attacks on ground targets.
The aircraft were built between 1993 and 2002.
GNA