Two fighter jets crash in western Finland, one killed

Two training fighter jets collided and crashed on Wednesday in western Finland, killing one of the two pilots.

The other pilot was found with spinal injuries and sent to hospital, the Finnish Air Force said. Finnish Defense Minister Carl Haglund presented his condolence to the dead pilot.

Both pilots managed to eject themselves before the planes collided into each other and crashed near the town of Kauhava, according to Finnish broadcasting company Yle.

The crashed jets were reported to be Hawk training fighters that belonged to the Air Force school in Kauhava.

At a press conference late Wednesday, Jukka Ahlberg, director of the training school, said that the two pilots were experienced flight instructors, each having about 1,000 hours of flight.

Ahlberg said the flight condition was good when the accident happened, and the reason of the collision was uncertain and investigation was going on.

The jets were bought from Switzerland, and were modified in Finland by Patria company. The life of each aircraft was expected around 6000 hours, and the flight time was about 1,000 hours.

Since 1995, seven fight jet accidents have taken place in Finland, with five of them related to the Hawk aircraft, according to the Accident Investigation Center of Finland.