A Vietnamese fishing boat has identified a dead body smothered in a parachute floating in the waters around 6 p.m. today about 33 nautical miles from Thanh Hoa central province’s Hon Me Island.
At about 7:00 p.m., the body was transferred from the fishing boat to a vessel from Nghe An province’s Border Guard. Major Nguyen Thanh Thuy, Commander in chief of a battalion from Thanh Hoa’s Hon Mat Island, said the man died about two days ago.
At 8:00 p.m., a source from the Ministry of National Defense’s Search and Rescue Command confirmed the dead body is Lieutenant Colonel Tran Quang Khai, one of the two pilots on board the missing jet Su-30 MK2.
His co-pilot Major Nguyen Huu Cuong was rescued by a fishing boat on June 15, a day after the plane went down.
Vietnam People's Air Defense - Air Force lost contact with the fighter jet flying offshore Nghe An on Tuesday morning. The jet departed from Tho Xuan Airport in Thanh Hoa Province for routine training but disappeared from radar at 7:29 a.m the same day.
Vietnam also lost contact with CASA-212, maritime reconnaissance aircraft, of the Vietnam Coast Guard yesterday noon while it was searching for the missing Su-30 fighter jet and its pilot Tran Quang Khai.
Nine crew members of CASA-212 remain missing.
The search team have found CASA debris today, 13-15 nautical miles to the south west of Bach Long Vi Island.
Related news:
> Vietnam loses contact with plane searching for missing fighter pilot
> Over a thousand people join search for missing Vietnamese fighter pilot
> Vietnamese fighter jet missing, one pilot has returned to the shore