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Swiss fighter jet crash crew found dead

AFP/The Local
AFP/The Local - [email protected]
Swiss fighter jet crash crew found dead
An F/A-18 Hornet fighter plane similar to the one that crashed. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

UPDATED: Fire fighters on Thursday recovered the bodies of two crew members who died when a Swiss army fighter jet crashed a day earlier in the canton of Obwalden.

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Rescuers also found the aircraft's black box, the defence department said.
   
"Both people onboard the F/A-18 fighter jet that crashed yesterday have 
been found dead," the department said in a statement.
   
The F/A-18 Hornet fighter jet was one of two that took off in the canton of 
Bern on Wednesday for a training mission, but it crashed shortly after into a cliff overlooking a branch of Lake Lucerne.
   
A professional air force pilot and his passenger, an air force doctor taking 
part in the training exercise, were killed in the crash.
   
Rescue workers had recovered both bodies and an autopsy had been ordered, 
the defence department said.
   
The aircraft's black box had also been salvaged and was being examined.


Depending on the condition of the box, the examination could take "days or even weeks", the department added.
   
The army has launched an investigation into why the crash happened and has 
temporarily suspended all flights by its fleet of McDonnell Douglas single- and double-seated F/A-18s, which before Wednesday's accident totalled 33
aircraft.
   
Another of the Swiss Hornets crashed in Crans-Montana in the canton of Valais
 in 1998, killing both pilots.

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