A Greek air force F-4 Phantom jet crashed on Saturday afternoon during an air show north of Athens, killing both pilots on board. The aircraft went down in front of thousands of spectators at Tanagra Air Base, approximately 60 kilometres north of the Greek capital, during the annual Athens Flying Week event — billed by organisers as the largest air show in southeastern Europe.

The crash occurred at around 3:00 p.m. local time, just three minutes after the fighter jet had taken off. Witnesses watched as the aircraft suddenly began losing altitude before plunging to the ground in an explosion. The impact split the plane in two, igniting fires in two separate locations and sending large plumes of black smoke into the sky. Firefighters deployed a helicopter to battle the blaze, though the scale of the fire complicated the rescue operation. According to Greece's public broadcaster ERT, the pilots did not have the opportunity to eject before the crash.

The bodies of the two pilots were recovered later in the afternoon as emergency crews worked through the wreckage. Spectators in the crowd were unharmed. The air show was halted immediately after the incident.

Greek Defence Minister Nikos Dendias, who had been travelling to an event in Thessaloniki — Greece's second-largest city in the north of the country — cancelled his plans and made his way to the crash site. The cause and exact circumstances of the crash remain unclear, and an investigation is expected to follow.

The accident adds to a difficult period for Greek aviation safety, coming after a series of helicopter incidents earlier this summer. The F-4 Phantom, a veteran jet fighter originally developed in the United States in the 1950s, has been in service with the Hellenic Air Force for decades and remains part of its operational fleet.