(see related) Four
airmen were on board two Italian Air Force Tornado fighter jets
that collided in midair over the eastern Marche region, military
sources said Tuesday.
The four airmen are missing and search-and-rescue teams are
combing the wooded hills above the city of Ascoli Piceno for
them, the sources said.
Investigators found an engine and other pieces of the
aircraft on the crash site, where firefighters are battling
blazes raging in various locations on the wooded hills.
Also on Tuesday, eyewitnesses said the collision was
visible from miles away.
The two aircraft were coming from opposite directions when
they collided, and their impact caused a shower of blazing
fragments to fall "like confetti," according to residents in the
hilltop village of Casa Murana.
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