Serbian pilot killed in jet crash

(Reuters)

A Serbian military jet crashed near Belgrade during a training flight today, killing the pilot and a soldier on the ground, the Defence Ministry said.

The pilot had ejected from the MiG-29 as it was going down near Batajnica military airport, northwest of the capital, but he died from injuries later at Belgrade's military hospital, the ministry said in a statement.

Another soldier was slightly injured on the ground, the statement said. The cause of the crash was not immediately known.

The jet was one of the five Mig-29s in the Serbian air force's fleet. It lost several of the twin-engine Russian-made fighters during Nato's air war against Serbia in 1999.

Serbia has invested about $20m in upgrading its aging MiGs in recent years.