The wreck of a US plane crashed in 1944, in the late part of World War Two, was recently found in a river in a town 500 kilometers from Kunming, capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province.

A local villager working a water passenger carriage business discovered the wreck in the local Tuoniang River on July 19. Mountain torrents pushed the wreck to the shallows, which was previously covered in sands, sources said.

The large part of airframe is above water, but salvage has been delayed due to the fierce water current.

Several old villagers in the town that is near the river told the accident they saw more than half a century ago:

One day in the spring of 1944, a plane that later proved to be a U.S. one plunged into the river. Two pilots in the plane was saved from water by villagers, and other four crew members parachuted, two landing successfully and two killed for parachute problem.

A 73 year-old woman said that four U.S. survivors lived in her house and were later escorted to a U.S. base in south China by the Kuomintang army.

The wreck of the aircraft is about 20 meters long and yet to be judge whether it is a bomber, or a cargo plane, or a fighter. The local government is organizing workers to do salvage operation.

( 08/01/2001)