Algeria fighter jet crash kills pilot

An Algerian pilot died when his Russian-made fighter jet crashed during a training flight in the country’s west, the defence ministry said.

The MiG-29 went down “because of a technical fault, directly after taking off from Bousfer airbase” in the province of Oran, it said late Monday.

The pilot and co-pilot were able to eject but the pilot later succumbed to his injuries, the statement said.

Armed forces chief General Said Chengriha ordered an enquiry into the crash.

The North African country’s armed forces have suffered a string of aviation disasters in recent years.

In April 2018, an Ilyushin Il-76 heavy transport aircraft crashed south of Algiers with the loss of all 257 people on board, most of them military personnel, in the country’s deadliest air accident.

In February 2014, 77 soldiers or relatives were killed when a Hercules C-130 transport aircraft crashed east of Algiers.

Most recently, three Algerian navy officers died when their MS-25 Merlin helicopter crashed into the Mediterranean west of the capital in December 2020.