Article Posted on : - Aug 06, 2014

ZAGREB (AFP): A Croatian military MiG-21 fighter jet crashed on Tuesday in a field near the capital Zagreb, but the pilot managed to eject before impact, the defence ministry said.

The pilot was taken to a hospital for a medical check-up, the ministry said in a statement.

The aircraft crashed into a field in the village of Lomnica, some 15 kilometres south of Zagreb. The reason for the crash was not immediately known.

"I saw the aircraft breaking in the air into three pieces," a local, Ivan Klafuric, told the online edition of Vecernji List daily.

Several news sites published a photo of the aircraft flying with its tail on fire.

Croatia, which joined NATO in 2009, has a dozen Russian-made MiG-21s.