Radar contact with the fighter, on a low-altitude training flight, was lost late Wednesday morning as it flew over the Jura region, near the Swiss border, officials said.

Search and rescue teams were immediately dispatched to the area, the Air Force said in a statement.

The local Est Republicain newspaper reported that a parachute was found amid the debris near Mignovillard, at an altitude of about 1,000 metres (3,280 feet).

The plane was unarmed.

The last deadly crash involving a 2000 Mirage fighter occurred in France in 2011.