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A Jet Crush Kills 10 French And Greek Nationals In Spain

A fighter plane crash at a military base in southeastern Spain has killed the two Greek pilots on board and eight French nationals, according to Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.

The two-seater Greek F-16 fighter jet attempted to take off during a Nato military exercise at around 3:30pm (local time) at the Los Llanos base, in Albacete, but lost thrust and crashed into a hangar - triggering a large fire.

A number of 21 people -10 French and 11 Italians - were injured in the incident at the base used by Nato to train pilots and crews from member states.

Five of those injured were taken to a specialist burns unit at La Paz Hospital in Madrid while the others were treated at a hospital in Albacete.

Five other planes were confirmed as damaged. Meanwhile French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian will travel to the scene of the crash on Tuesday.

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Personnel from the US, Denmark, Germany, Belgium and the UK are also said to be stationed at the base. Emergency crews extinguished the fire and were assessing how much damage had been done to other planes involved in the Nato exercise, the ministry added

Aviation analyst Sean Maffett told BBC it was difficult to imagine how the accident had occurred because the runway where the aircraft was taking off is about 1,000 ft (305 m) away from where the crash apparently took place.

Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that he was deeply saddened by the crash.

"This is a tragedy which affects the whole Nato family," he said. "I express my heartfelt condolences to the loved ones and the nations of those who lost their lives, and I wish a speedy recovery to the injured."

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