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A Korean military jet plunged into the East Sea during a training mission on Wednesday. Rescue officials are still searching for the missing pilots and are trying to figure out whether one of the world's most-advanced fighter planes crashed due to mechanical problems.
A Korean fighter jet crashed in the East Sea during a routine nighttime training mission on Wednesday, killing two pilots. The Korean Air Force said it discovered the debris of the F-15K fighter jet, some 48 kilometers off the coast of Pohang in Korea's southeast. Air Force officials said the supersonic aircraft disappeared from radar screens at around 8:20 p.m. Wednesday about thirty minutes after it took off from an air base in Daegu city. Military authorities are still investigating the exact cause of the accident and they are not ruling out pilot or mechanical errors.
Currently, naval vessels and helicopters are scouring the presumed crash site to collect plane parts. Early Thursday morning, officials at the scene of the wreckage reportedly discovered an oil slick and what's believed to be the remains of the fighter jet. The plane that plunged into the East Sea on Wednesday is one of four F-15K fighter jets manufactured by Boeing and delivered this past October.
As part of the Korean government's multi-billion dollar plans to update its defense capabilities, Seoul had agreed to purchase forty F-15K jets by 2008 at a cost of more than US$4 billion. Headquartered in the U.S., the world's second-largest defense contractor Boeing is said to have been briefed on the incident and is taking steps to pinpoint the cause of the crash.
Arirang News
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