Excited fan's vehicle damages German Chancellor Merkel's plane

An excited fan jumped out of her van to take a picture of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's government plane at Dortmund airport but forgot to put the parking brake on, and the vehicle rolled slowly into the nose of the jet.

Germany's Spiegel Online posted a picture Tuesday of the low-speed collision with the Global 5000 jet and reported that the van driver was an employee of the airport.

The German air force confirmed in a tweet that Merkel returned to Berlin by helicopter Monday after her plane was damaged by a vehicle, but didn't provide further details. The accident is a headache the air force doesn't need, after a string of highly publicized breakdowns of the ageing government fleet causing delays for Merkel and others.

A string of procurement delays, cost overruns and technical mismatches have interfered with attempts to renew the country's naval fleet, while deadlines for selecting a new warplane fleet have repeatedly been missed.

(With inputs from agencies.)