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THIS is the horror moment a fighter jet bounced off the runway before exploding into a fireball in a botched Top Gun stunt.
The pilots narrowly escaped the crash as they ejected themselves from the plane mid-air but one of them tragically died soon after.
The dramatic footage, captured on May 9, shows Yakovlev Yak-130 scraping along the tarmac in Chittagong, Bangladesh.
The pilots reportedly tried to perform three spins at a low altitude but the dangerous trick went awry.
The Russian-made plane can then be seen engulfed in fire as it was lifted off the ground again.
Another clip shows smoke and sparks erupting from the jet’s rear as it free-falls from the sky and plunges into the water below.
At one point in the video, fragments of the fuselage could be seen falling off after the jet exploded into a fireball.
The two pilots propelled themselves out of the aircraft and appeared to have parachuted to safety.
They were reportedly discovered alive in the Karnaphuli river by local fishermen and rescued by members of the air force and navy.
Pilot Muhammad Asim Jawad, 32, and his co-pilot Wing Commander Sohan Hasan Khan were both rushed to the hospital with injuries.
Jawad later died from the wounds he had sustained while Khan remains in critical condition.
The fallen aircraft was retrieved from the river as the country’s Air Force claimed it had crashed due to “mechanical failure”.
They stated that the pilots steered the aircraft away from the densely-populated areas as they faced an imminent danger.
But the footage of the tragic incident seems to contradict these claims as it shows the jet perform air pirouettes moments before crashing.
One anonymous source believes the Top Gun style stunt had caused the plane to smash into the tarmac as it flew too close to the ground.
They told DailyMail: “Recently obtained CCTV footage from the runway area contradicts this claim by BAF, displaying a chilling sequence where the aircraft attempts to perform three consecutive aileron rolls at a perilously low altitude, nearly colliding with the runway in the process.
“At the 19-second mark, a slowed-down analysis shows fragments of the aircraft detaching as it rebounds and gets airborne.
“In the critical moments that followed, as captured in the video, the engine became engulfed in flames, emitting black smoke.
“The two pilots, demonstrating exceptional skill under pressure, managed to eject from the flaming jet.
“The ejection, a procedure known to exert enormous g-force on the body, often results in temporary loss of consciousness.”
Jawad leaves behind his wife, two young sons and a daughter.
He was buried in a ceremony accompanied by a guard of honour as Air Force members carried his coffin through the parade ground on Friday.