Vietnam searches for 2 missing fighter jet pilots

HANOI, Vietnam — Vietnamese authorities were searching Friday for two pilots who went missing on a training exercise.

The Ministry of Defense said in a statement on its website late Thursday that the pilots on two Russian-made SU-22 fighter jets lost contact around noon Thursday off the country’s central coast.

The ministry said a search aircraft spotted four floating reserve oil containers and oil traces.

Disaster official Pham Hung Tan in the central province of Binh Thuan said the Navy, Maritime Police and the Coast Guard are taking part in the search. He said two reserve oil containers were recovered.

The accident is the latest setback for the Vietnamese military after two helicopter crashes killed 24 military personnel in the past nine months.

Russian remains the communist country’s main supplier of military hardware.