Investigators are probing a crash involving an unidentified small aircraft in northeast China, state media said, amid reports yesterday that it could have been a North Korean fighter plane.
China’s Xinhua news agency said the plane that crashed in Liaoning Province’s Fushun County “might be” a North Korean jet, citing unnamed Chinese government sources.
“The aircraft crashed into a civilian makeshift house, leaving no Chinese dead or injured. The pilot died on the spot,” the report said, adding that Beijing was “communicating” with Pyongyang on the incident.
PILOT KILLED
South Korea’s Yonhap news agency, citing intelligence sources, said the aircraft appeared to be a North Korean fighter jet and that the pilot had been killed. It had earlier identified the aircraft as a helicopter.
Yonhap quoted a source as saying the pilot of the plane — possibly a Soviet-era MiG-15 — may have lost his way while attempting to fly to Russia to escape from North Korea.
China, an ally of Pyongyang, has a repatriation pact with North Korea, which could have been why the pilot decided to choose Russia as a destination, the report said.
Photos that appeared to show the crash site, posted on the Internet, showed what looked like a fighter plane with the North Korean flag painted on the body of the jet.
MIG-21
South Korea’s military said the plane was more likely a MiG-21, citing radar detection by its air force of the aircraft leaving a military airbase in the North Korean city of Sinuiju, near the border with China.
“Radar images show the North Korean aircraft took off from the air base in Sinuiju,” said an official in Seoul, who asked not to be named. “According to the images, it appears to be a MiG-21,” the official said.
The number of North Korean soldiers defecting from the impoverished, reclusive state has increased in recent months as food shortages deepen, Yonhap said.
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