Fragments of Fighter Found
By Yoon Won-sup
Staff Reporter
A Korean jet fighter, which went missing during nighttime training in the West Sea, Friday, was confirmed to have crashed off the West Coast, according to the Air Force Saturday.
``We discovered fragments of the KF-16 D aircraft that disappeared after joint research by the Korean and U.S. Air Forces,'' a Korean Air Force official said. ``So, the fighter crashed off the sea and two pilots are presumed dead.''
The two pilots are Maj. Lee Kyu-jin, 36, and 1st Lt. Park In-chul, 27. Park followed the path of his father who died in a fighter crash during a joint drill with the United States in 1984.
The Air Force formed a team led by Lt. Gen. Hwang Won-ki and plans to investigate the cause of the crash while continuing to search for the missing pilots.
The KF-16 D aircraft disappeared around 9 p.m. Friday, 34 minutes after it took off from an air base in Seosan, South Chungcheong Province, about 150 kilometers southwest of Seoul.
This is the fifth time the KF-16 D aircraft, a type of main fighter for the Air Force, crashed. In the previous accidents, all pilots successfully escaped from the aircraft before crashing.