A United States Navy plane has made an emergency landing in southern China after suffering damage during a collision. The plane collided with one of two Chinese fighter jets that intercepted it during a surveillance flight. The US Pacific Command said that its plane was forced to land on Hainan Island after the incident over the South China Sea. A spokesman for the Pacific Command said that the plane was in international air-space at the time of the collision.
He said that none of the 24 crew was injured and the Chinese plane did not appear to crash. He said that it was unclear if the contact between the two aircraft had been accidental or the result of deliberate bumping by the Chinese jet. The United States has communicated its concern about the incident to the Chinese Government.
But Chinese authorities have blamed the US plane for the mid-air collision, which they say brought down one of its fighters. "A Chinese aircraft was conducting normal flight operations 10 km south of Hainan island when a US plane suddenly veered towards it," state television quoted a Foreign Ministry statement as saying. The statement claimed that the nose and left wing of the US plane hit the Chinese plane and caused it to crash, and added that China was searching for the crew.
