The plane crashed on Monday morning for “as yet unknown reasons,” Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar wrote on social media. Its pilot reportedly survived by ejecting himself from the plane.
It is one of the Hungarian Air Force's Gripen aircraft. The crash occurred near the city of Szolnok in central Hungary, southeast of the capital Budapest.
“The investigation is ongoing and the Minister of Defense is on his way to the scene,” Péter Magyar announced.
Saab has no further information to share about the circumstances.
"We have received information that a Gripen plane was involved in an accident. But we currently have no further information about what happened," says Mattias Rådström at Saab, referring the matter to the Hungarian authorities.
Then an investigation together with Hungary will show what happened, he adds.
Hungary has had Gripen aircraft in its air force for 20 years. The country received additional aircraft from Saab as recently as this year. It is not clear from the initial report of the accident which Gripen model is involved.
Saab's shares started Monday higher, but lost all of that gain after the news of the Gripen accident in Hungary. Ten minutes after the news broke, Saab's shares were down 0.3 percent.
