Egypt military plane crashes near Luxor, killing 1 villager

GlobalPost
Updated on

An air force fighter jet crashed in a village near the Upper Egypt city of Luxor on Sunday, killing one villager, according to the Associated Press.

Three locals were also reported hurt. Egypt's Ahram Online said emergency vehicles were at the scene of the accident in Madamoud village.

The Los Angeles Times, reporting from Cairo, described "flaming debris" from the plane that "rained onto a rural hamlet" in Luxor, some 450 miles south of the capital. 

The pilot parachuted out before the broken plane hit the ground and set several homes on fire, said the AP.

No official announcement has been made about the incident, but the AP, citing a military spokesman's Facebook page, said it was a mechanical failure.

Egyptian army spokesman Colonel Ahmed Ali said there was a “sudden malfunction," reported the LA Times

The plane in question was a Soviet-made MiG-21 jet that Ahram Online said was used for pilot training.

Sign up for our daily newsletter

Sign up for The Top of the World, delivered to your inbox every weekday morning.