Two Iranian Pilots Killed after F7 Jet Crashes

First responders work as debris from the crashed fighter jet is seen in Tabriz, Iran, February 21, 2022. (Mehr News/WANA via Reuters)
First responders work as debris from the crashed fighter jet is seen in Tabriz, Iran, February 21, 2022. (Mehr News/WANA via Reuters)
TT

Two Iranian Pilots Killed after F7 Jet Crashes

First responders work as debris from the crashed fighter jet is seen in Tabriz, Iran, February 21, 2022. (Mehr News/WANA via Reuters)
First responders work as debris from the crashed fighter jet is seen in Tabriz, Iran, February 21, 2022. (Mehr News/WANA via Reuters)

Two Iranian pilots died after their F7 fighter jet crashed on Tuesday near Anarak, 200 km (124 miles) east of the city of Isfahan, Iran's official IRNA news agency reported.

"The jet's mission was to practice shooting but there was an accident at 8:30 a.m.," an official from Isfahan province told IRNA.

Experts say Iran has a poor air safety record, with repeated crashes, many involving aircraft bought before the 1979 revolution and lacking spare parts for maintenance.

In February, an F5 jet used by the Iranian military crashed into the wall of a school in the northwestern city of Tabriz, killing the two pilots and a person on the ground.



EU Commission Chief Has 'Severe Pneumonia'

FILE - European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen addresses a media conference at the end of an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Havana, File)
FILE - European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen addresses a media conference at the end of an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Havana, File)
TT

EU Commission Chief Has 'Severe Pneumonia'

FILE - European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen addresses a media conference at the end of an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Havana, File)
FILE - European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen addresses a media conference at the end of an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Havana, File)

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is ill with “severe pneumonia” and has canceled her appointments for the next two weeks, her office announced Friday.

According to The Associated Press, spokesman Stefan De Keersmaeker said her agenda had to be cleared of meetings in Lisbon and in Poland, which has just taken over the EU's rotating presidency of the 27-nation European Union.

“She is dealing with severe pneumonia,” De Keersmaeker said in a statement, giving no further details about her conditions or how she fell ill.

Von der Leyen, 66, only recently started her second five-year stint at the top of the EU's powerful executive office.