A Greek fighter jet practices a low level flight west of the Peloponnese coast. For reasons that are not yet clear, the F-4 Phantom 2 crashes into the sea. A second hunter follows the accident very closely. One of the pilots is recovered dead, the other is still missing.
One of the two pilots on board died when a Greek warplane crashed over the Ionian Sea in the west of the country. The second pilot was still missing in the evening, according to the Ministry of Defense in Athens. Rescue teams were able to salvage the body of a pilot from the floods several hours after the accident, as reported by the state broadcaster (ERT), citing the Coast Guard.
Pilots of another Greek plane witnessed the crash of the F-4 Phantom 2 on Monday, the report said. At the time of the accident, the pilots of the supported jet were practicing a low-level flight west of the coast of the Peloponnese peninsula. The hope of recovering the missing pilot alive is dwindling, experts said on the radio. The search for the missing person continued into the evening, Greek newspapers reported.
The accident is not associated with the tensions between Greece and Turkey from circles of the Ministry of Defense in Athens. The two NATO countries have been fighting over sovereign rights in the Aegean and the eastern Mediterranean for decades.
