Two fighter pilots have been killed after a warplane collision in northeastern France.

The two Rafale aircraft crashed during a training mission in the Vosges region near the town of Colombey-les-Belles, the defence ministry said.

The two pilots – an instructor and a trainee – were killed as they completed a combat manoeuvre.

The pair were named as Captain Sebastien Mabire and Lieutenant Matthis Laurens by President Emmanuel Macron, who wrote on X: “The nation shares the grief of their families and brothers in arms at Air Base 113 in Saint-Dizier.”

The pilot in the other jet managed to eject from the aircraft and suffered minor injuries.

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He was found alive soon after but it took police several hours of searching in the wooded region to find the pilots who died as a result of the crash.

Military and judicial investigations are under way into the causes of the accident.

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