Croatian Defense Minister Damir Krsticevic offered to resign on Thursday after a military airplane crashed near the coastal city of Zadar, killing two members of the Croatian Air Force. 

Announcing his resignation during a press conference on Thursday evening, Krsticevic said that this is a great loss for the Croatian Air Force and he called for an investigation into the circumstances of the accident, as well as the training system and command line. 

On Thursday afternoon, a small Zlin airplane crashed near the city of Zadar during a regular training flight, killing a flight instructor and a cadet onboard. 

Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, Robert Hranj, said at the press conference that the aircraft was in use since 2007 and that the flight instructor was very experienced. He noted that the 25-year-old cadet who died in the accident had already done a solo flight and the training had been going according to plan. 

This was the second fatal accident for the Croatian Air Force this year. On Jan. 27, a Kiowa OH-58D military helicopter with two crew members on board crashed into the Adriatic Sea between Zablace and Zlarin in the Sibenik archipelago, killing both pilots. 

Krsticevic has served as defense minister and deputy prime minister of Croatia since 2016. He is expected to discuss his resignation with Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic on Friday, local media reported.