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TAIPEI (Reuters) – A Taiwan air power Mirage fighter jet crashed off the island’s northwest coast on Tuesday evening and search efforts have been ongoing for the pilot, who efficiently ejected, the defence ministry and official Central Information Company mentioned.
The defence ministry mentioned the French-built Mirage was conducting nighttime workouts when it suffered a suspected lack of energy and the pilot then bailed out.
The Central Information Company mentioned the plane had crashed into the ocean off Hsinchu on Taiwan’s northwest coast, a metropolis residence to a serious air base.
Search and rescue efforts have been ongoing, the ministry mentioned.
Taiwan’s air power has suffered a collection of crashes in recent times, together with in 2022 when it grounded its Mirage fleet after one crashed into the ocean off the east coast.
Taiwan acquired its first of 60 Mirage 2000 jets in 1997, although they’ve been upgraded a number of occasions since then. A minimum of seven have since been misplaced in accidents.
Whereas Taiwan’s air power is properly skilled, it has been repeatedly scrambling to see off Chinese language navy plane flying close to the island prior to now 5 years, although the accidents haven’t been linked in any technique to these intercept actions.
The U.S.-built F-16 fighter jet is the mainstay of Taiwan’s air power.
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