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2 Italian air force planes collide mid-air, killing pilots

March 7, 2023 GMT

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The burned remains of one of the two Italian Air Force U-208 aircrafts that crashed in Guidonia, in the outskirts of Rome, Tuesday, March 7, 2023, is covered with a white cloth in the residential district where it fell. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

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ROME (AP) — Two Italian air force pilots were killed Tuesday during an exercise when the light aircraft they were flying collided mid-air and crashed to the ground, Italy’s air force said in a statement.

The two U-208 aircraft crashed near the Guidonia military airport, located around 25 kilometers (15 miles) northeast of Rome. No injuries on the ground were reported.

One of the planes crashed into a car on a narrow residential street lined with apartment buildings; the other landed in a field.

Premier Giorgia Meloni expressed her condolences to the pilots’ families and colleagues.