A military training jet crashed into a mountain in Shiraz, southern Iran, on Wednesday afternoon, killing both pilots on board, the IRGC-affiliated Fars News reported, citing a local official.

The incident took place at 02:30 pm (local time) in a mountainous area near the city of Firouzabad, almost 80 miles (130 km) south of Shiraz, according to Vahid Shabani, the Director-General of Security and Law Enforcement in Fars Province.

Iran's state TV identified the deceased pilots as Col. Hamid Reza Ranjbar and Col. Manouchehr Pirzadeh, saying they were on a test flight after the plane was overhauled.

Iranian media have not provided further details on the type of plane or the cause for the crash.

Fars News released a video that showed columns of white smoke billowing from the remains of the aircraft.

A veteran Iranian fighter jet pilot says sanctions on the country are the main reason for the high number of military aviation accidents and casualties among air force pilots.

Brigadier General Kioumars Heidarian, a retired pilot who underwent training in the US state of Texas and flew fighter jets for Iran’s air force both before and after the 1979 revolution, said in 2022 that if Iran could procure better aircraft equipment, it could reduce the number the accidents.

“Accidents happen everywhere, and no one in the world has managed to decrease the number of accidents to zero, but if the equipment is complete, it is natural that the number of accidents will be fewer,” he said.