ATHENS: A Greek figh­ter pilot died on Thursday when his plane crashed in the Aegean while returning from a mission to intercept Turkish jets, officials said.

“A Greek pilot [has ente­red] the pantheon of her­o­­es,” Defence Minister Panos Kammenos said in a tweet.

“He fell... fighting to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he said.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said the pilot, a father-of-two named as Georgios Baltadoros, died “in the line of duty”. The Greek armed forces will observe a three-day period of mourning over the accid­ent, the defence ministry said.

The Greek airforce said Baltadoros was fatally hurt when his Mirage 2000-5 fell into the sea while preparing to land “after concluding an operational mission”.

Published in Dawn, April 13th, 2018