A Hellenic Air Force F-16 fighter jet belly-landed at Zakynthos airport (a popular Greek island destination in the Ionian Sea) on Thursday after developing a technical fault mid-training flight, sliding along the runway and catching fire before firefighters brought the blaze under control. The pilot was unharmed, though the aircraft came to rest on the runway without its landing gear deployed, forcing authorities to suspend all flight operations and delay remaining departures until at least 21:00 local time. The incident is particularly disruptive as Zakynthos enters its peak tourist season, with thousands of visitors — many from the UK — passing through the airport each week; a specialist air force team was dispatched to remove the jet and restore normal operations.