South Korean air force planes collide in midair

South Korea’s air force said that two of its planes collided in midair and crashed on Friday, killing all four pilots on board.

The two KT-1 aircrafts crashed into a mountain in the southeastern city of Sacheon.

What we know about the crash

Two people, a trainer pilot and an instructor, were aboard each of the two aircrafts.

"Despite their attempts at an emergency escape ... all of the two student pilots and two flight instructors aboard the two planes died," the air force said in a statement.

The air force added that it has formed a team to determine the cause of the accident and damage. There were no civilian casualties.

A total of 130 troops, 95 police officers and 60 firefighters are conducting a search operation at the crash site, local media said.

President Moon Jae-in offered condolences to the victims' families.

Second South Korean air force crash this year

It comes nearly three months after a South Korean air force pilot died in January when his F-5E fighter jet crashed into a mountain in the city of Hwaseong.

The KT-1 is a single-engine basic trainer and light attack aircraft. It is built jointly by the state-run Agency for Defense Development and a contractor, Korea Aerospace Industries.

Air force plane crashes and other military-related accidents occasionally occur in South Korea, which maintains a 560,000-member military to deter potential aggression from rival North Korea, which has about 1.3 million soldiers, one of the largest militaries in the world.

About 28,500 American troops are stationed in South Korea, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War that ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.

dvv/rt (AP, Reuters)