Paris: French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Wednesday night that two pilots had died in an accident during a Rafale fighters' training mission earlier in the day.
"It is with great sadness that we learn of the deaths ... in an air accident during a Rafale training mission," said Macron on X, formerly Twitter.
Two Rafale fighter jets collided in midair before crashing to the ground in northeastern France on Wednesday at around 12:30 local time on return from a refuelling mission in Germany, said the French Air Force on X.