Chinese Military Plane Crashes, One Individual Reportedly Dead

One person is reportedly dead after a Chinese military plane crashed into a residential area on Thursday.

According to CNN, the crash occurred in a residential area in central China, killing at least one person. Also, two others were reportedly injured and several houses were damaged per CCTV.

The pilot of the plane was able to eject the plane and parachute to the ground. However, he sustained minor injuries. He and other civilians were brought to a local hospital for treatment.

In videos, several homes were on fire as a result of the plane crash that occurred near Laohekou airport in Xiangyang, Hubei province.

As of this writing, the reason behind the crash of the People's Liberation Army Air Force J-7 aircraft has yet to be known. An investigation into the incident is ongoing with emergency response also underway.

In a report from the South China Morning Post, Laohekou Airport is now mainly used as a training site for new fighter pilots from the Central Theatre Command Air Force. The airport stopped serving civil aviation routes after the Liuji Airport in Xiangyang opened in 1989.

Also, this was not the first time a fighter jet crashed during training flights.

In fact, in 2015, a Chinese air force pilot parachuted to safety moments before his aircraft crashed into a hillside. Then two years before that, a military pilot died when his fighter jet crashed during night training in eastern Zhejiang.

The J-7 fighter jet was developed in China back in the 1960s. it was designed mainly for short-range air-to-air combat. Its production was suspended in 2013 and a derivative aircraft is now mainly used for pilot training.

The latest incident also comes after a China Eastern Airlines plane crashed into a mountainous area of the southern Guangxi Zhuang region in March. 132 passengers and crew perished from that flight.