Beijing - Two military pilots parachuted to safety after their jet fighters collided and crashed early Wednesday in China's northern region of Inner Mongolia, state media said.

The Jian-8 fighter planes crashed in a rural area during a drill near the regional capital of Hohhot, the official Xinhua news agency said.

One plane exploded and the other caught fire near a village, the agency said.

The pilots were treated for minor injuries after they ejected from their planes, but the agency did not say if any civilians were injured.

The planes were under a People's Liberation Army (PLA) military command based in the north-eastern city of Shenyang.

The PLA began developing Jian-8s in 1964, when Chinese aeronautic engineers adapted a Russian MiG-21 design to produce the country's first home-made fighter plane.

Several upgraded versions of the Jian-8 have followed, but the agency's report gave neither the age or version of the crashed planes. (dpa)