MULTAN - A French-built Pakistan Air Force Mirage fighter jet crashed in central Pakistan on Tuesday, but the pilot ejected safely, officials said. The jet came down near Rajanpur district, 22 kilometres (13 miles) from Fareed Airbase in Punjab province while coming in to land, district police chief Azhar Hameed Khokhar told AFP.An air force spokesman said the jet was on a “routine operational training mission during which it developed some technical fault.” An inquiry had been ordered into the crash, air commodore Sarfraz Khan told AFP. “The pilot ejected safely and there was no loss of life or property on the ground,” Khan said.
PakistanÂ’s air force has ageing French-built Mirages, US F-16s and a large number of Chinese-built fighters in its fleet.