At least two of the four crew members aboard a South Korean Navy airplane died after it crashed into a hillside and exploded near country’s the east coast on Thursday afternoon.
The turboprop aircraft, which was used for marine patrols, crashed around 1:50 p.m. in Pohang, a city about 250 miles southeast of Seoul, officials said. Two officers and two noncommissioned officers were on board, a military official said at a briefing. Rescuers discovered two bodies near the plane’s wreckage within a few hours of the crash, said fire officials, and a search continued for the other two.
The plane had departed from an air base in Pohang during a training session five minutes before the accident, military officials said. The police said it was investigating the cause of the crash.
Videos from local news media showed smoke billowing upward from a forested hillside and fire trucks and ambulances nearby.
Kim Hong-gi, a Pohang resident, said he was in the middle of eating a doughnut when he “heard a sputtering sound overhead and a large boom from behind.” When he turned around, he saw smoke in the distance. “I’ve never witnessed a plane crash before. I was shocked,” he said.
Local fire officials said they had deployed two helicopters and 40 firefighters to extinguish the fire.
Jin Yu Young reports on South Korea, the Asia Pacific region and global breaking news from Seoul.
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