Sailors injured after US fighter jet botches landing near China — RT World News

Seven US Navy personnel had been injured after a pilot suffered a “touchdown mishap” on a US supercarrier and was compelled to eject from the plane whereas performing operations within the South China Sea.

The US Navy introduced on Monday that one in every of its F-35C Lightning II stealth planes had a “touchdown mishap on deck whereas USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) was conducting routine flight operations within the South China Sea.”

The pilot ejected from the plane and was rescued by a navy helicopter, nevertheless a complete of seven sailors had been injured in the course of the incident, with three requiring a medical evacuation to the Philippines. The three sailors are reportedly in secure situation.

The opposite 4 injured sailors had been handled on-board the ship and three have since been launched.

Precisely what went fallacious is at present being investigated by US Navy authorities.

Navy supercarriers USS Carl Vinson and USS Abraham Lincoln had been performing a drill within the South China Sea on the time of the accident as tensions between the US and China proceed.

Rear Admiral Dan Martin, the commander of Service Strike Group 1, boasted this week that the drill “highlights the U.S. Navy’s potential to ship overwhelming maritime power, when known as upon, to help a free and open Indo-Pacific area.”

“We’re dedicated to making sure the lawful use of the ocean and free stream of commerce whereas deterring those that problem the shared imaginative and prescient of a free and open Indo-Pacific now and into the long-term future,” he continued.

Beijing has territorial claims to virtually all the South China Sea, and routinely denounces Washington’s operations within the space as a violation of its sovereignty. A number of different nations, together with Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines additionally declare varied islands within the disputed waterway.

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