Over the weekend, as search and rescue teams returned the body of Lieutenant Colonel Tran Quang Khai to shore, search efforts continued for the nine military personnel still missing in the East Sea.
Following the disappearance of a fighter jet last Tuesday morning, Vietnamese coast guard, border guard, navy and air force personnel joined local fishermen in the hunt for two pilots: Major Nguyen Huu Cuong and Lt. Colonel Khai, both of Air Regimen 923.
Major Cuong was rescued by a fishing boat early Wednesday morning after nearly 24 hours at sea. The pilot returned to land in good health.
However, on Thursday, with Lt. Colonel Khai still missing, military officials deployed a nine-person search and rescue team aboard the CASA 8983 aircraft, reports Tuoi Tre. As it plied the waters off Vietnam's northern coast, the CASA plane also went missing somewhere between the Vietnamese mainland and China's Hainan Island. According to Reuters, CASA 8983 crashed as a result of bad weather and poor visibility.
With two planes missing and hope running out for Lt. Colonel Khai, Vietnamese authorities mobilized over 1,700 military personnel along with local civilians to search by air and sea for both the missing people and their aircraft.
Video via Zing.
On Friday morning, search teams came across pieces of the wreckage from CASA 8983, VnExpress reports. Following this discovery, China also sent personnel to support the search, offering two coast guard boats and one rescue vessel in response to Vietnam's request for assistance.
Later that afternoon, a fisherman discovered the body of Lt. Colonel Khai, reports Zing. Just after 5am on Saturday, the pilot's body was returned to shore in a somber procession in Nghe An province.
Video via VnExpress.
Military officials held a memorial service in Nghe An on Sunday before transferring Lt. Colonel Khai's body to his hometown in Bac Giang province, reports Zing. The career pilot, who posthumously achieved the rank of colonel, was the tenth of 11 children, according to VnExpress. He is survived by his wife and young daughter.
[Photo via Thanh Nien]
