An F-16 aircraft crashed Thursday evening in Poland during a rehearsal before an air show in Radom (central Poland), a government spokesperson announced, and the pilot died in the accident, AFP reports.
„Tragedy in Radom during AirShow preparations. An F-16 aircraft crashed. Unfortunately, the pilot died,” government spokesperson Adam Szlapka announced on X.
He announced that the Polish Minister of Defense was going to the scene.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, who was at the scene, conveyed condolences to the pilot's family on X.
The Polish military stated in a press release that the accident did not result in any injuries on the ground.
Video recordings published by the press capture the aircraft performing a stunt and then crashing on the runway in a ball of fire.
The pilot tried until the last moment to regain control of the aircraft.
The air show in Radom, located about 100 kilometers south of Warsaw, is scheduled to take place this weekend.
The Polish Air Force had, until now, 48 American-made F-16 aircraft in its fleet.