A South Korean fighter jet crashed into waters off the country's east coast during a routine training mission, killing two pilots on board, Air Force officials said Friday, Yonhap reported.
The F-5F jet went missing less than an hour after leaving base in the coastal city of Gangneung, 237 kilometers east of Seoul, officials said. The cause of the crash was not immediately known.
"Our rescue team has discovered bodies of the two pilots and are recovering the wreckage scattered in the waters," an official said.
The jet took off at 9:43 a.m. and disappeared from radar around 10:33 a.m. near the air base, the official said on the condition of anonymity.
One of the pilots was found knotted in a parachute partly opened, indicating that he had tried to eject.
South Korea's Air Force deployed the aging supersonic F-5F fighter jets, developed by Northrop of the U.S., between 1982 and 1986.