Aircraft accident outcomes announced The Central Military Commission and the Ministry of National Defence announced the initial outcomes of the search and rescue operations for the SU30 MK2 and CASA 212 aircraft yesterday.   Senior Lieutenant General Vo Van Tuan. Evidence suggests both aircraft crashed into the sea. All nine crew members of CASA 212 are believed to have perished and recovered bodies are still being identified. The early evidence also suggests the SU30 MK2 military plane coded 8585, of Regiment 923 under Division 371 of the Air Defence – Air Force Service, had an accident during a training session at sea, above the waters off Nghe An-Thanh Hoa provinces, 40km to the northeast of Hon Mat Island. The two pilots, Senior Lieutenant Colonel Tran Quang Khai and Major Nguyen Huu Cuong, parachuted and the plane crashed in the sea. During the search and rescue mission for the SU30 MK2 plane, CASA 212 coded 8983 of Brigade 918 of the Air Defence – Air Force Service, and its nine crew members, lost communications while flying over the water south-southeast of Bach Long Vi Island. The CASA 212 aircraft went down about 15 nautical miles to the south-southeast of Bach Long Vi Island, 2.7 nautical miles to the west of the Vietnam-China delimitation line in the Gulf of Tonkin. Search teams retrieved key parts of the aircraft at a depth of 50-60m, including the body, tail, propeller, and personal items of crew members. They also found bodies at the accident site, which were identified as some of the plane’s crew members. The General Staff of the Vietnam People’s Army (VPA) is responsible for directing forces to continue search and recovery of dead crew members and remaining parts of the two aircraft, while ensuring safety for search and rescue teams, in light of the recent bad weather. Forensic agencies and relevant units are urged to identify bodies and objects found at the accident scene. After completing the recovery of the remaining parts of the two aircraft, technical agencies will analyse the data and find the causes of the accidents as quickly as possible. Cockpit incident An incident in the cockpit of the SU30-MK2 forced the two pilots to parachute, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People’s Army Senior Lieutenant General Vo Van Tuan said at a press conference yesterday. He cited information from Nguyen Huu Cuong, the surviving pilot of the military plane, as the reason for the initial conclusion about the cause of the accident. The cause of the CASA 212 accident is still undetermined, as its black box has yet to be found. Sen. Lt. Gen. Tuan told the media that immediately after the accidents, the Central Military Commission and the Defence Ministry mobilised the army, search and rescue forces of the Transport Ministry, the Fisheries Surveillance Force, and civilian fishing boats to search in the waters off Nghe An-Thanh Hoa provinces and Hai Phong City. The Defence Ministry also contacted the Chinese, asking them to facilitate search and rescue activities on the eastern side of the Vietnam-China delimitation line in the Gulf of Tonkin. The black box and items related to CASA 212 and Su30-MK2 are being search for so the cause of the accidents can be investigated. Tuan attributed the effective search and rescue to the timely directions of Party, State and government leaders and to the instructions of the Central Military Commission and the Defence Ministry - particularly the Defence Minister, the head of the General Department of Politics, and the Chief of the General Staff of the VPA. He also hailed the synchronous deployment of vehicles and forces for the search and rescue effort, including air and naval forces, coast and border guards, Military Zones 3 and 4, army medical staff, maritime surveillance forces and fishermen’s fishing vessels, under the direction of the Chief of the VPA’s General Staff. Together they also ensured communications, logistics and technical equipment, he said. The close liaison among the authorities of Nghe An, Thanh Hoa, Hai Phong and Quang Ninh - and international support - also proved effective. CASA 212 crewmember’s body identified, more bodies found There is a high chance that one of the two bodies found earlier at sea is of Major Nguyễn Văn Chính, a crewmember of the ill-fated CASA 212 aircraft. This was announced by the Navy. The naval command said last night there may be no need to conduct ADN tests to confirm Chính’s identification as the search forces had already found some personal documents with his name on them. The body in military uniform, suspected to be of the unfortunate soldier, was found at 3pm yesterday at sea near the Bạch Long Vĩ Islands from where the last signals of the missing CASA 212 surveillance jet, coded 8983, were detected. Major Nguyễn Văn Chính was the political commissar of the Pilot Level 3 Squadron of the 918 Brigade and is one of the nine missing crewmembers on board the aircraft that went missing on June 16. Chính’s hometown is in Bình Lục District in Hà Nam Province, some 80 kilometres to the south of Hà Nội. First images of the missing CASA 212 jet on the seabed of the Tonkin Gulf. Searching forces said they have found more bodies adjacent to the wreckage. — Source: Việt Nam Defence Ministry. More bodies found The Việt Nam Army TV channel last night also released the first images of the ill-fated CASA 212, showing the plane’s debris and wreckage lying on the seabed of the Tonkin Gulf. Forces have located the exact whereabouts of the aircraft at a depth of between 50 and 60 metres under the sea, 15 nautical miles south-southeast of the Bạch Long Vỹ Islands of Hải Phòng. Several pieces of debris, including a propeller and fuselage with the jet’s code number 8983, were found in the area. On June 16, the CASA 212 was dispatched with nine crewmembers on board after rescue units received a help signal believed to be from the fighter jet SU30-MK2, which crashed during a training session two days earlier. Search forces looking for the SU30-MK2 yesterday afternoon also discovered aircraft debris at latitudes between 18 degrees 57 minutes and 19 degrees North and longitudes between 106 degrees 3 minutes and 106 degrees 4 minutes East in the waters of central Nghệ An Province. The position was determined to be the place where the aircraft crashed. The SU30-MK2 aircraft and its two pilots went missing at 6:50 am on June 14 near Hòn Mát Island, some 40km off the coast of the central province of Nghệ An’s Vinh City. One pilot was rescued by fishing boats and brought ashore safely. The body of Senior Lieutenant Colonel Trần Quang Khải, the other pilot, was found on June 17 and brought ashore on June 18. VNS