BUCHAREST: A Romanian air force MiG-21 Lancer fighter jet crashed during anairshow in eastern Romania on Saturday, killing its pilot, the defenceministry said.
Eyewitnesses at the airshow, attended by about 4,000 people. said the planeexploded when it hit the ground. Television footage showed flames and thicksmoke.
Television reports quoted witnesses as saying the pilot might have tried toavoid hitting the crowds and instead chose to crash on a nearby field.
The ministry said the cause of the crash, some 240 kilometres (150 miles)east of Bucharest, was being investigated.
It named the dead pilot as Lieutenant-commander Florin Rotaru, 36.
Romania, a NATO member since 2004, received its first six F-16 fighter jetsfrom Portugal in 2016, as it phases out its communist-era MiGs.