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Taiwan’s defence ministry has said two military pilots were killed after a training aircraft crashed on Tuesday during a simulated engine failure exercise at a southern air base.
The ministry said the T-34 training plane went down at 8:08 a.m. (0008 GMT) near the northern end of the runway at Gangshan Air Base in Kaohsiung, adding that both pilots on board lost their lives in the incident.
It said the Air Force has established a task force to investigate the cause of the crash. The pilots were identified as Lieutenant Colonels Lu and Guo.
President Lai Ching-te expressed deep sadness over the incident, describing the deceased pilots as heroic and commending their service and sacrifice to Taiwan.
An Air Force spokesperson declined to provide additional details when contacted by AFP.
According to the defence ministry website, Taiwan’s Air Force uses Beechcraft single-engine propeller aircraft as its primary pilot trainers. The aircraft type was first delivered to Taiwan in 1984.
In a separate incident in January, an F-16 fighter jet crashed into the sea off eastern Taiwan during a training mission. The pilot is believed to have ejected, but has not yet been found.
