Taiwan's air force said the pilot of an F-16 fighter jet was killed after his plane crashed on Monday in the mountains at the start of annual live-fire drills. The single-seat jet disappeared off the radar over mountainous terrain in the northeastern county of Keelung at 13:43 pm (0543 GMT), 34 minutes after take off, the air force said.
The defence ministry, local police and fire department had conducted land and air searches for the 31-year-old pilot, Major Wu Yen-ting, for hours before discovering the wreckage of the plane on Monday evening. "It is confirmed that the pilot has died in the line of duty ... a commission will be set up later to investigate and clarify the cause of the incident," the air force said in a statement.
President Tsai Ing-wen and Defence Minister Yen De-fa expressed their condolences and pledged compensation to the pilot's family. Wu was also involved in the last F-16 accident in Taiwan, in 2013, when he parachuted to safety following a suspected mechanical failure.
The five-day "Han Guang" (Han Glory) drill kicked off Monday with troops practising thwarting a Chinese "invasion" by simulating surprise coastal assaults to reflect increased military threats from Beijing. Although Taiwan is a self-ruling democracy, it has never formally declared independence from the mainland and Beijing still sees it as a renegade province to be brought back into the fold, by force if necessary.