China fighter jet crash: Pakistan bought J-7s; being converted into drones by Beijing

A massive fire, houses turned to rubble, death and destruction - this was the scene in China's Xiangyang after a fighter jet crashed during a training mission.

The incident occurred on June 9 when the aircraft crashed in a residential area. The pilot ejected safely, but one person on the ground was killed, and two were injured.

The plane which crashed was a J-7 deployed with the Chinese air force. The incident occurred near an airport in Xiangyang which lies in Hubei province.

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The J-7 is a single-engine aircraft derived from the Soviet-era MiG-21. The Chengdu Aircraft Corporation produced the lightweight jet. Its maiden flight was in 1966, and it was approved as an operational aircraft in 1967.

The J-7's production ended in 2013 after around five decades. The jet has been deployed in large numbers for regional air protection, as per reports. China is also believed to have converted many J-7s into drones.

The J-7 is China's most-exported aircraft. The plane's export version F-7 was sold to around 17 countries. The importing nations included India's neighbours Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Myanmar. Many nations which bought the jets have since retired them.