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SWEDEN-ACCIDENT-MILITARY
Swedish fighter jet crashes after bird collision, pilot survives
STOCKHOLM, Aug 21, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – A Swedish jet fighter crashed after
colliding with a bird in southern Sweden on Tuesday, authorities said, adding
the pilot ejected safely.
“It was a bird collision and the pilot had to eject,” Johan Lundgren,
spokesman at the Swedish Armed Forces told AFP.
The pilot was on a training mission in a Jas Gripen aircraft manufactured
by Swedish aerospace company Saab.
The accident happened eight kilometres (five miles) north of a military
air base near the southern Swedish city of Ronneby.
The pilot was taken to a hospital for a check-up.
Authorities said the accident happened in a remote area and no casualties
were reported.
Sweden reports about 400 such incidents a year, Charlotte Billgren at the
Swedish Transport Agency told the TT news agency.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 1558 hrs