AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE,
SEOUL: Two South Korean pilots were presumed dead Thursday, a day after their US-made F-15K fighter jet crashed in the sea off the southeast coast, the Air Force said.
Wreckage of the jet and oil slicks were discovered in the sea overnight, but the pilots were still missing, Air Force spokesman Kwon Oh-Song said.
“The pilots are believed to have been unable to eject from the jet and died in the aircraft,” the spokesman told a televised briefing on the crash. He added the search was still under way.
He said Air Force investigators were looking into the exact cause of the crash.
The F-15K disappeared from Air Force radar screens during a night-time interception exercise some 350 kilometers (215 miles) southeast of Seoul in the Sea of Japan (East Sea) on Wednesday.
The jet was one of four F-15Ks brought here from Boeing late last year in the first batch of 40 aircraft that South Korea has ordered for delivery by 2008 in a deal worth 3.7 billion dollars.
“There is no change to the plan at the moment. But appropriate measures would be taken after the investigation,” Kwon said, indicating the incident had no immediate impact on the agreed purchase of F-15Ks.
Another 12 F-15Ks will arrive in South Korea this year, he said.
Boeing said it was cooperating with the crash investigation.
