Moroccan Air Force Mirage F1 Crashes After Bird Strike

RABAT — A Moroccan air force Mirage F1 crashed in the northeast of the country Monday after hitting a flock of birds but the pilot managed to eject safely, a report citing the armed forces said.

The plane, which was on a training mission, came down near the Sidi Slimane air base and the pilot "is safe and sound," the Moroccan Royal Armed Forces said in a statement quoted by the MAP news agency.

A "collision with a flock of large birds" as it was preparing to land caused the plane's engine to die, the statement added.

There were no casualties from the crash, which occurred in an uninhabited area.

The Mirage F1 is manufactured by French firm Dassault.

In May, a Moroccan pilot was killed when his F-16 crashed in Yemen during Saudi-led coalition operations against Houthi rebels.

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