Hungarian Gripen jet crashes, no injuries reported, PM Magyar says

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BUDAPEST, Aug 24 - A Hungarian Gripen fighter jet crashed near the town of Szolnok on Monday, with the pilot having successfully ejected from the plane, Prime Minister Peter Magyar said in a Facebook post.

• The cause of the accident was currently unclear, and there were no injuries or casualties, Magyar said. No civilian infrastructure was harmed, he added.

• The minister of defence was on his way to the scene, and an inquiry into the cause of the accident was underway, Magyar said.

• "According to a preliminary report, there were no injuries and there was no harm in civilian infrastructure," Magyar wrote on Facebook.

• "The pilot is in an ambulance, he is alive," Minister of Defence Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi said in a Facebook video.

• Hungary, a NATO member state, operates 18 JAS 39 Gripen fighter aircraft, based in Kecskemet.

• In 2015, a Hungarian Gripen crash-landed in central Hungary due to a technical fault. The pilot ejected and the jet was later repaired. REUTERS

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