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© Reuters/Gonzalo Fuentes
An F-16 Fighting Falcon has crashed near Charleston, South Carolina, after colliding with a civilian plane identified as a Cessna C-150.

A photo of the wreckage identifies the F-16 as part of the 55th Fighter Squadron (55 FS), part of the US Air Force's 20th Fighter Wing at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina.


Rescue crews have located the Air Force pilot, who is on the way to a hospital. There is still no word about the civilians aboard the Cessna.

Witnesses reported an "explosion in the sky" above Highway 52 near Cooper River, in Berkeley County. The F-16's pilot ejected safely, according to WCSC's Bill Walsh, but debris from the plane is strewn on the ground near Lewisfield Plantation.

Local firefighters and first responders are on the scene and looking for the wreckage of the civilian plane, with a helicopter searching the nearby Tailrace Canal. It is unknown how many people were on board the Cessna, or whether they survived.

SC Air National Guard says none of its planes are believed to be involved in the air accident.

The crash site is about 30 miles north of Charleston.