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Featured Image Credit: Instagram/BBC News
Topics: Military, Travel, World News, France
Jen Thomas
Bystanders were horrified after the shocking moment two jets crashed in mid-air and plummeted to the ground in a fireball.
The French display team Patrouille de France were in the middle of rehearsals when things went wrong. Two of the jets collided, forcing the three pilots of the two Alpha Jets to make an emergency escape and eject.
Fortunately, the people involved were 'found alive and conscious', the French air force has announced.
The incident took place at around 15:40pm, during a training drill including seven Alpha Jets close to the the Air Base 113 in Saint-Dizier.
During the shock footage, a plane can be seen fast approaching the jet in front of it, before striking the leading plane. They both plummet to the ground as the pilots eject.
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According to the French newspaper Le Figaro, two people who are in a state of 'relative emergency' have been taken to the local hospital.
The third person has been described as a 'multi-trauma sufferer' and is being treated by the Army.
Sébastien Lecornu, the Minister of the Armed Forces in France, and shared a statement on X.
He wrote: "Emergency services are being mobilised, and coordination is being ensured by the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of the Armed Forces."
After colliding mid-air, one of the jets crash-landed into a silo at the Calin concrete company and started a fire.
It has been reported that the other plane landed in a canal. No casualties have been reported from the ground due to either plane landing.
One eyewitness described how they had been watching the planes rehearsing for around 15 minutes where they heard a 'loud bang' and felt the 'compound vibrate'.
They told a local television station: "We looked up and debris was falling from the sky. The pilot landed 50 meters from the compound and was immediately taken away on a stretcher by the firefighters."
Eyewitnesses also mentioned seeing an Air Force helicopter flying over the site in search of debris from the crash.
"We saw black smoke, we didn't expect it to be like that at all, we were really shocked," a witness called Emma told another French news outlet.
Another witness described it as an 'explosion', saying it all 'happened very quickly (...) there were wingtips on the side of the road, it was quite shocking'.
The Mayor of Saint-Dizier, Quentin Brière has visited the site and urged locals 'not to give in to panic'.
He also praised the pilots for their professionalism and skill, saying it enabled them to escape without worsening the situation.
The Patrouille de France's are the equivalent of the Red Arrows in the UK, and regularly take part in demonstrations in France for national holidays.