Tornado crashes into sea near Skye

TWO RAF air crew were forced to eject from their aircraft after their Tornado ran into difficulty off the Isle of Skye.

• A Tornado craft similar to the one which crashed today

The two crew members from RAF Lossiemouth escaped from the jet before it went into the sea in The Minch to the north of Skye this afternoon.

Coastguard and lifeboat teams were dispatched to the scene.

The two air crew have been airlifted by helicopter to Raigmore hospital in Inverness. Their condition is unknown.

Witnesses said a second Tornado circled the crash scene moment after the jet went down.

Last month it was revealed that two military jets avoided crashing head-on over the Highlands by "pure" luck, according to an air safety body that investigated the incident.

The Tornado GR4s passed within 50ft of each other near Roybridge in Lochaber on June 11 last year.