A Belgian Air Force F-16 fighter plane crashed Thursday in western France, leaving one pilot caught on a high-voltage power line.
Both pilots on board the plane ejected from the aircraft near Lorient, France, the Belgian Air Force said on Twitter on Thursday.
“The pilot and co-pilot were able to eject themselves from their seats before the crash. One is being looked after by the emergency services and the second has his parachute caught on a high-voltage power line,” a spokesman for the police in Morbihan, Brittany, told CNN.
The police later confirmed that emergency services had been able to free the pilot caught on the high voltage power line. Both pilots suffered light injuries.
Local authorities in Morbihan said that 40 firefighters and 20 rescue vehicles had attended the scene, and asked local residents to steer clear of a security perimeter around the crash site. 8 houses were evacuated as a precaution, police told CNN.
“A 500m security perimeter has been set up around the site of the air crash and @gendarmerie is on site to secure the area. 40 firefighters and 20 rescue vehicles of the SDIS of Morbihan are mobilized. The public is requested to respect this security perimeter,” the authorities said in a statement posted on Twitter.
CNN’s Anastasia Graham-Yooll contributed to this report
