Two Navy jets crashed into the Gulf of Mexico during a training mission Wednesday, and the seven crew members were missing, US military officials said.
The twin-engine planes went down about 40 miles south of Pensacola. There was no indication whether they collided, said Barbara Levick, a spokeswoman at Pensacola Naval Air Station where the planes were based.
"They have found two oil slicks and two debris fields," Levick said.
Three crew members were on one plane and four were aboard the other, she said. The planes were assigned to Training Squadron 86, part of Training Air Wing 6.
Both jets disappeared from radar Wednesday afternoon, Navy spokeswoman Cathy Whitney said.
Three Coast Guard helicopters and the 87-foot cutter Stingray were searching for the missing crew, said Petty Officer 2nd Class Mack Mackowiak in New Orleans. He said the search was concentrated on a one-mile by two-mile area where the debris was found.
(China Daily May 9, 2002)
