4 die as military plane crashes during Egypt-UAE joint drill

CAIRO: Four military officials, two of them Egyptian and two from UAE, were killed when a military aircraft crashed during a joint exercise between the armed forces of the two countries.

The aircraft crashed last evening in Egypt after a technical problem, killing all four crew members, Egyptian army spokesperson Brigadier General Mohamed Samir said without specifying what type of aircraft was involved.

The UAE armed forces said that authorities were investigating the reasons behind the incident.

Egypt and the UAE started a joint military drill on December 11, the latest in a series of training between the two countries.

The UAE was among the first Arab countries to welcome the ouster of elected president Mohamed Morsi by the military last year. In September, six army soldiers were killed and one injured after a military transport aircraft crashed in Fayoum Governorate, south of Cairo.