All 4 folks on board a South Korean navy patrol aircraft have died after it crashed throughout a coaching flight over distant mountains on Thursday morning.
The P-3C patrol aircraft had 4 folks on board when it took off from its base close to the southeastern metropolis of Pohang at round 1.43pm native time.
Officers say the plane got here down simply six minutes after take off, with witnesses reporting a loud sound of an explosion and smoke coming from the positioning of the crash.
“A P-3 maritime patrol plane that took off at 1.43pm for touchdown and takeoff coaching from an air base in Pohang crashed at a close-by location at round 1.49pm, on account of an unspecified motive,” the navy stated in a press release, in response to Yonhap.
The navy stated the our bodies of all 4 crew members, together with two commissioned officers and two non-commissioned officers, have been discovered, although their full identities haven’t been confirmed.
Photos shared by public broadcaster KBS confirmed burnt plane particles strewn on the bottom as rescue employees arrived on the web site.
Pictures additionally confirmed firefighters and a minimum of one water truck working close to the crash web site, with flames flickering and black-grey smoke rising from the positioning between timber.
The navy stated it has launched an investigation into the reason for the crash.
There have been no fast reviews of civilian casualties on the bottom.
The navy stated in a press release that it established a process drive to research the reason for the crash and quickly suspended all flights of P-3s.
The incident marks the primary identified crash of the P-3 plane, dubbed the “submarine killer”. The South Korean navy operates 16 such plane.
The deadly crash got here on the day when South Koreans headed out to polling stations for early voting within the nation’s snap presidential polls set to happen subsequent week.
The incident marked newest in a collection of aviation accidents within the nation.
In December, a Jeju Air passenger aircraft crashed at Muan Worldwide Airport in southern South Korea, killing all however two of the 181 folks on board. It was one of many deadliest disasters in South Korea’s aviation historical past.
