TRIPOLI, Oct 7, 2009 (AFP) – A Russian MiG-23 fighter jet crashed into a house in a suburb of Libyan capital Tripoli on Wednesday, killing the two-man crew and injuring several people on the ground, witnesses told AFP.

The plane was on a demonstration flight at an air show at Maatiga military airport when it crashed in the nearby Soug-Ejemaa district. There was no immediate word on the cause of the accident.

Those injured included three members of a family living in the house, the witnesses said, with medics adding that their lives were not in danger. Much of the building was destroyed but the three were in one of the less damaged rooms. A large crowd gathered at the house, where civil protection workers battled to free the airmen’s bodies from the rubble. Sections of the aircraft were strewn across the courtyard and around the house, AFP journalists reported.

Russian news agency RIA Novosti cited its correspondent as saying the MiG-23 went down about two kilometres (more than a mile) from the show’s grandstands, without mentioning casualties or other details.

On Monday, Russian state-owned arms exporter Rosoboronexport said in a statement that it was expecting a “significant expansion” of Russian arms sales to Libya and other states in the region at the Third Libyan Aviation Exhibition (LAVEX 2009) which wraps up on Thursday.

Source: ASD