Search-and-rescue teams
looking for four missing airmen have found an orange parachute
in Casamurana, a village near the crash site of two Italian Air
Force jets that collided in midair over the Marche region,
police said Tuesday.
Two pilots and two co-pilots went missing after the fiery
mid-air collision over wooded hills, which set off brush fires
in five different locations.
Firefighters managed to control the blazes, and no
evacuations were necessary, civil protection sources said.
The two Tornado jets had taken off on a training mission
from Ghedi military base near the city of Brescia, and were
expected back at base on Tuesday evening, military sources said.
The mission had been scheduled ahead of a joint NATO
military exercise slated for the fall, the sources said.
The military has not yet released the names of the missing
airmen.
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