A Chinese air force fighter jet crashed into houses during a training mission in central China, killing one person on the ground and injuring two others, state media said.
The reports were unusual because China generally keeps military accidents under wraps or emphasises the heroic role of the pilot in avoiding casualties on the ground.
Foreign governments have recently complained of reckless flying by Chinese fighter jets they said endangered crews on their own military surveillance planes.
State broadcaster CCTV's military channel reported that the J-7 aircraft went down near an airport in Xiangyang in Hubei province on Thursday.
The pilot ejected safely but some residential buildings were damaged, the reports said.
The pilot and those injured were taken to hospital, and the cause of the crash is under investigation.
The J-7 is an older model, single-engine aircraft with its origins in the Soviet MiG-21 dating from the 1950s and was produced for almost 50 years until production ended in 2013.
Large numbers remain in service, however, to provide regional air protection. China also sold an export version, the F-7, to more than a dozen countries, many of which have since retired the planes.
China's civil aviation industry has come under scrutiny in recent months following the still-unexplained crash of a China Eastern Airlines passenger jet on March 21 in which all 132 people on board were killed.
And on May 12, a Tibet Airlines flight with 122 people on board was leaving the southwestern city of Chongqing when it veered off the runway and caught fire. No-one was killed, but several passengers were injured.
Australia and Canada have recently raised concerns about reckless flying by Chinese fighter pilots.
In a statement on June 1, the Canadian military said Chinese planes tried to divert a Canadian long-range patrol aircraft from its path, and that the crew had to change direction quickly to avoid a collision.
Australia said a Chinese fighter jet on May 26 committed a dangerous act of aggression against an Australian air force plane conducting aerial surveillance in the South China Sea.
The Chinese J-16 accelerated and cut in front of the Australian plane, releasing chaff with small bits of aluminium designed to confuse radars that was sucked into the latter's engine, Australian defence minister Richard Marles said.
China has defended the actions of its pilots and blamed foreign countries for conducting close surveillance of its territory to contain Chinese development.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here