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Harrier crashes in Arizona, pilots eject

YUMA, Ariz. — A Marine Corps Harrier attack jet crashed Thursday while on a training mission in southern Arizona, but both pilots ejected safely, officials said.

The pilots were taken to Yuma Regional Medical Center and they were both listed in good condition Thursday night.

“The hospital reported they were both conscious and talking,” said Gunnery Sgt. Bill Lisbon of the Marine Corps Air Station Yuma public affairs office.

The jet, assigned to MCAS Cherry Point, N.C., went down about 3:30 p.m. Mountain time on the Barry M. Goldwater Range southeast of Yuma, Lisbon said.

The range spans a remote desert area and is used primarily for pilot training.

The aircraft was described as a TAV-8B Harrier II two-seater trainer jet and “the pilots were here for normal training,” Lisbon said.

Lisbon said he did not know what type of training the Harrier was involved in prior to the crash.

Helicopters from the air station’s search-and-rescue unit recovered the downed pilots, whose identities were not immediately released.

The crash was under investigation and the cause was not immediately known, according to Lisbon.

In August, two Marine Corps pilots, a crew chief and a Navy corpsman were killed in the crash of a military search-and-rescue helicopter about 20 miles north of Yuma. The helicopter was assigned to MCAS Yuma. A Marine Corps Harrier jet crashed in 2005 into a Yuma neighborhood near the air base, but the pilot had only minor injuries, and no one on the ground was hurt.