Thai fighter jet crashes during drill; pilot’s fate unknown

BANGKOK — The Thai Air Force says an F-16 fighter plane has crashed during a drill in central Thailand and the pilot’s fate is not immediate known.

Air force spokesman Air Vice Marshal Montol Suchookorn says the single-seat jet crashed Friday at the air force’s training ground in the central province of Lopburi.

He says wreckage has been located but the pilot is missing.

Montol says the jet was first used in 1988 and has undergone regular maintenance.

In 2010, another Thai Air Force F-16A crashed near the Thai-Myanmar border during a training flight, killing the pilot. A year later, two F-16 planes crashed in northeastern Thailand but the pilots safely ejected.

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