News / Saudi Arabia

Two pilots killed as Royal Saudi Air Force jet crashes during training

Monday, 15 October 2018 4:35 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 15 October 2018 6:29 PM ]

This file picture shows a Hawk trainer aircraft of the Royal Saudi Air Force in flight.

Two Royal Saudi Air Force pilots have lost their lives when their training jet crashed during a routine mission in the kingdom’s northwestern region of Tabuk.

The British-made and single-engine BAE Systems Hawk aircraft was on a routine operational training mission on Monday when it suffered the mishap 100 kilometers away from the city of Tabuk and close to the border with Jordan, online Arabic-language newspaper Sabq reported.

The cause of the crash was not immediately known and the air force has launched a probe to determine it.

On September 14, a Saudi Boeing AH-64 Apache attack helicopter crashed in Yemen’s eastern province of Mahra.

An official of Provincial Supreme Security Committee, who asked to remain anonymous, said, "The Saudi helicopter crashed while conducting a reconnaissance mission over Tanhala Mountains."

He confirmed that the Saudi pilot and his assistant died as a result of the crash.

Saudi media outlets later identified the pair as Captain Saud bin Nasser bin Jaris and First Lieutenant Ahmed bin Abdulaziz al-Dabian.

PressTV-Saudi copter on recon mission crashes in Yemen, crew killed

A Saudi helicopter on a reconnaissance mission crashes in Yemen’s eastern province of al-Mahrah, killing its pilot and co-pilot.

Yemen's Arabic-language al-Masirah television network reported earlier this year that Yemeni air defense forces, supported by allied fighters from Popular Committees, had intercepted and targeted a Saudi F-15 fighter jet while flying in the skies over the capital Sana’a.

The development came shortly after Yemeni troops stated that they had shot down a twin-engine and multi-role Panavia Tornado combat aircraft belonging to the Saudi-led military alliance over Kitaf wa al-Boqe'e district in the country’s northwestern mountainous province of Sa’ada.

Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies launched a devastating military campaign against Yemen in March 2015, with the aim of bringing the government of former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi back to power and crushing the country’s Houthi Ansarullah movement.

Some 15,000 Yemenis have been killed and thousands more injured since the onset of the Saudi-led aggression.

More than 2,200 others have died of cholera, and the crisis has triggered what the United Nations has described as the world's worst humanitarian disaster.

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