BERLIN (AP) – Two planes collided in the air at an airshow in northern Switzerland on Sunday and at least one of the planes crashed after the impact, a fire department spokesman said.
The two planes touched each other in mid-air just before the crash in the village Dittingen near Basel, Marco Thomas of the Laufental fire department said. He did not have any further information about possible injuries or casualties.
Daniel Fierchter, a spokesman for the Dittingen airshow, confirmed the crash and said that rescue teams had just arrived at the scene.
Swiss media reported that the two planes were part of the German Grasshopper formation of three planes. They said one pilot managed to escape by parachute, but it was not clear what happened to the pilot of the second plane. The third plane of the formation was not involved in the crash and landed safely, they reported. Police could not immediately be reached for comment.
On Saturday, seven people died and more than a dozen were injured after a military jet participating in an airshow in the UK crashed into a busy road. The Hawker Hunter fighter jet, which was participating in the Shoreham Airshow near Brighton in southern England, hit several vehicles on a nearby road as it crashed. Witnesses told local TV that the jet appeared to have crashed when it failed to pull out of a loop maneuver.
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