Vietnamese fishermen find pilot's seat from missing fighter jet

By Le Hoang June 26, 2016 | 01:04 am PT

Vietnamese authorities have confirmed that an object salvaged by local fishermen is the pilot's seat from the Su-30 MK2 fighter jet that went down off Vietnam's central coast.

This morning, fisherman Nguyen Van Son and his crew found the object in waters between the provinces of Thanh Hoa and Nghe An caught in their nets near the sea bed.

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The seat has been identified as one from the Su-30 MK2. Photo by VnExpress/Hai Ninh

“The object looked like the missing Su-30 pilot's seat so we sent it to the commune’s People Committee” fisherman Son said.

Chairman of the Hai Ninh People's Committee Le Dinh Phuong said that at 10 a.m., representatives of Ministry of National Defense's Regiment 923 had confirmed it was Lieutenant Colonel Tran Quang Khai's seat, who was found dead at sea after the incident.

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The seat was damaged but not too hard to identify. Photo by VnExpress/Hai Ninh

His body was recovered by a border guard vessel on June 17 after a four day search off Vietnam's central coast.

On June 23, search teams said they had pinpointed the exact location of the crash site 10 days after it went missing.

> Su-30 fighter and CASA-212 rescuer: the tragedy explained

> Body of Su-30 jet pilot brought ashore