All four crew members on board a South Korean navy patrol plane have died after it crashed during a training flight over remote mountains.
The P-3C patrol plane took off from its base near the southeastern city of Pohang at around 1:43 p.m. local time, carrying four crew members.
Officials say the aircraft went down just six minutes after takeoff, with witnesses reporting a loud explosion and smoke rising from the crash site.
Pictures shared by public broadcaster KBS showed burnt aircraft debris scattered across the ground as rescue workers arrived at the scene.
Photos also showed firefighters and at least one water truck operating near the crash site, with flames flickering and thick black-grey smoke billowing from between the trees.
“A P-3 maritime patrol aircraft that took off at 1:43 p.m. for landing and takeoff training from an air base in Pohang crashed nearby at around 1:49 p.m., due to an unspecified reason,” the navy said in a statement on Thursday.
The navy confirmed that the bodies of all four crew members—two commissioned officers and two non-commissioned officers—had been found, though their full identities have not yet been released.
The military added that a task force has been set up to investigate the cause of the crash, and all flights of P-3 aircraft have been temporarily suspended.
Meanwhile, there were no immediate reports of civilian casualties on the ground.
The fatal crash occurred on the same day South Koreans headed to polling stations for early voting in the country’s snap presidential election, scheduled for next week.
