Vietnamese military plane crashes during training, missing pilots found

HANOI: Search teams rescued two Vietnamese pilots on Wednesday (Nov 6) night after they went missing when their military plane crashed during training in the south-central coastal province of Binh Dinh, news site VietnamNet reported, citing information from the telecoms provider Viettel.

The first pilot was rescued shortly before 8 p.m., while the second was found about two hours later, according to the news site. Both were in stable condition, the report said, citing a spokesman for Viettel, a company that was helping in the search by tracking mobile signals.

Earlier, the Tuoi Tre newspaper reported that the pilots went missing after landing from a Russian-made Yak-130 military aircraft.

Vietnam has long relied on Russian weapons, including aircraft and submarines. The two countries have military ties dating back decades. However, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Vietnam is seeking to diversify its arms suppliers. – Bloomberg