Taiwan fighter jet crashes at sea on training mission, pilot rescued

TAIPEI - A Taiwan air force Mirage fighter jet crashed off the island's northwest coast on Tuesday night and the pilot, who successfully ejected, was rescued and taken to hospital, the defense ministry and official Central News Agency said.

The defense ministry said the French-built Mirage was conducting nighttime exercises when it suffered a suspected loss of power and the pilot then bailed out.

Rescuers found the pilot conscious a few hours later and he was taken by a coast guard vessel to a port and then hospital, the ministry added.

The Central News Agency said the aircraft had crashed into the sea off Hsinchu on Taiwan's northwest coast, a city home to a major air base.

Taiwan's air force has suffered a series of crashes in recent years, including in 2022 when it grounded its Mirage fleet after one crashed into the sea off the east coast.

Taiwan received its first of 60 Mirage 2000 jets in 1997, though they have been upgraded several times since then. At least seven have since been lost in accidents.

While Taiwan's air force is well trained, it has been repeatedly scrambling to see off Chinese military aircraft flying near the island in the past five years, though the accidents have not been linked in any way to these intercept activities.

The US-built F-16 fighter jet is the mainstay of Taiwan's air force. —Reuters