TWO pilots have miraculously survived after their Navy training jet crashed at a Texas ranch in Ricardo on Monday morning.
The pilots are conscious and are said to have non-life-threatening injuries, KRISTV reports.
They are currently being transferred to a hospital in Kingsville.
The pilots were found on a ranch in the area of Highway 77 and West FM 772.
The cause of the crash, which happened just before 11am local time, is not yet known.
"This morning around 11am I was out here cutting my property on West 2180, and I felt the ground shake about two times," Corderro Mejia, who witnessed tthe crash, told KRISTV.
"I heard two loud explosions, so I turned around and looked south because I was facing north, and I looked up and seen two big ole fireballs go in the air kind of like a mushroom-style when the big ole smoke got into the air.
"One finished, and then another one came up after that. There was no smoke or anything after that. So I contacted the sheriff's department."
The crash comes just six months after the Naval Safety Center in Jim Wells County, Texas, reported a crash involving a student and instructor who were flying in a T-45 Goshawk jet trainer.
They were safely ejected from the jet and also only reported minor injuries.
Debris from the crash scattered along the road and onto private property.
“It was a normal area (where) the aircraft would operate and our students routinely fly there," Chief of Naval Air Training Public Affairs Officer Lt. Michelle Tucker told KRISTV.
"Its a naval outlying field so it’s one of our main training areas for the T-45.
“Anytime something like this happens — we’re very thankful that (everyone) walked away from the scene,” she said.
“We’re very thankful for our local — I believe it was Orange Grove Volunteer Fire Department that came out to help extinguish the fire — and we’re very thankful for that community support we received today.”
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