Chinese fighter jet, US Navy spy plane collide

China blamed a US plane for a mid-air collision yesterday that it said had brought down one of its fighters.

"A Chinese aircraft was conducting normal flight operations 10km south of Hainan island when a US plane suddenly veered toward it," state television quoted a Foreign Ministry statement as saying.

"The nose and left wing of the US plane hit the Chinese plane and caused it to crash," the statement said. "China is now searching for the crew."

Earlier, the US Navy said one of its surveillance aircraft had made an emergency landing in the southerly island of Hainan after a mid-air brush with a Chinese fighter on an interception mission.

The 24 crew members on board the EP-3 surveillance plane were not injured, said Colonel John Bratton, a spokesman for the US Pacific Command in Hawaii.

This is the first time a US military plane has made an emergency landing after running into a Chinese aircraft, Bratton said.

The collision appeared to be "an accident" and the Chinese did not force the plane down, he said.

The EP-3 was on a routine mission when it was intercepted by two Chinese fighters at about 9:15am. It had taken off from Kadena Airbase in Okinawa, the US military said.

The US plane was in international airspace, Bratton said.

"The planes actually bumped into each other," said another Pacific Command spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Dewey Ford.

The EP-3, a four-engine propeller plane, issued a Mayday before landing at an airfield on Hainan, the US military said.

Military spokesmen said they didn't know where in Hainan Island the plane was.

Bratton did not know the status of the crew, but he said the Chinese side appeared responsive to US requests that they be well treated and returned. "We see no problems with retrieving the crew," Bratton said.

The US Embassy in Beijing has "communicated our concern about the incident" to the Chinese government, Bratton said. US authorities in Washington have also contacted the Chinese Embassy there.

The US has asked that the crew be well treated and that the aircraft be repaired and allowed to leave.