Remains of pilots found 47 years after plane crash in Vietnam

HANOI – The remains of two pilots who crashed a training fighter aircraft into a mountain in 1971 have been found in Tam Dao on the edge of the northern provinces of Thai Nguyen and Vinh Phuc.

The MiG-21U aircraft went missing on April 30, 1971 during a training flight.

Last week, local people found aircraft debris on a slope, and a recovery team was sent to investigate.

Senior Lieutenant-Colonel Nguyen Trung Thanh, deputy chief of staff of Thai Nguyen Province’s Military Headquarters, said that the remains, now under DNA analysis, were believed to be Vietnamese pilot Cong Phuong Thao and his trainer Yuri Poyakov, a pilot of the former Soviet Union.

Thanh added the initial investigation showed that the aircraft crashed near the top of the mountain, leaving a 3-meter crater, and the two sets of remains were about 20 meters from each other.