MADRID, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- The Spanish Ministry of Defense has confirmed an air-force pilot was killed on Monday morning after his CASA C-101 fighter crashed into the Mediterranean Sea.
The accident happened at 9:38 local time close to the popular holiday resort of "La Manga", southeast Spain. Videos taken by people on a nearby beach show the aircraft go into a steep dive before crashing into the sea several hundred meters from the coast.
The pilot has been named as Commander Francisco Marin Nunez, who was able to eject before his aircraft hit the water, but did not survive, possibly because he ejected at very low level after trying to pull the aircraft out of its dive.
C-101 aircraft is a two-seat aircraft and is used for advanced basic training for the Spanish air-force and is also the aircraft used by Spain's "Patrulla Aguila" (Eagle Patrol) acrobatics team.
Because the aircraft was a two-seater, it was originally feared that two people had been on board when the accident happened, but the Ministry of Defense has confirmed that Marin Nunez was the only crew member.
Investigations have begun into the cause of the crash and are still ongoing, meanwhile Spain's acting Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez posted a tweet lamenting that "despite the intense efforts of rescue services," the result had not been different.
Monday's accident comes just a day after a midair collision between a helicopter and a light aircraft in the Spanish island of Mallorca, which claimed seven lives, including a German family of four, an Italian helicopter pilot and two Spaniards.
