Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — The air crew survived as a Saudi fighter plane crashed during a training mission in the Eastern Province on Monday.

Brig. Gen. Turki Al-Maliki, spokesman of the Ministry of Defense, stated that the Tornado aircraft, one of the fighter planes of the Royal Saudi Air Force, crashed at 3:44 pm on Monday during a routine training mission in the training area of King Abdulaziz Air Base in Dhahran.

“The air crew had survived - praise be to God - after using chair parachutes, and that there were no injuries or losses on the ground as a result of the plane crash,” the spokesman said, adding that a committee has been constituted and it has begun investigation into the cause of the incident, the Saudi Press Agency reported.