Two pilots rescued after military plane crashes in Vietnam

HANOI – Search teams in Vietnam rescued two pilots who parachuted from their military plane before it crashed in the country’s mountainous central highlands during bad weather, state media reported Nov. 7.

The Russian-made Yak-130 aircraft crashed on the morning of November 6 during a training flight in a dense forest in the Iapa district of Gia Lai province.

Reports say the pilots had trouble deploying the plane’s landing gear, forcing them to bail out.

They were found 10 hours after the crash when they managed to call authorities from their cell phones and tell them their location.

Mr Pham Truong Son, deputy chief of general staff of the Vietnam People’s Army, told state media that wreckage of the plane had also been found, but heavy rain and strong winds had hampered recovery efforts.

“Retrieving a five-ton plane from the forest requires special equipment and careful planning, so it will take some time,” Mr. Song said.

Although Vietnam’s civil aviation sector has a good safety record, accidents involving military aircraft are more common.

In 2023, a pilot died after a Russian-made Su-22 military fighter jet crashed in northern Vietnam during training.

In one of the country’s worst military disasters, 19 people were killed after a Russian-made Mi-171 helicopter crashed in the capital Hanoi during a training exercise in 2014. AFP