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U.S. Navy plane damaged in
minor collision with Chinese fighter
Associated Press
BEIJING (April 2) -- Chinese fighter jets intercepted
a U.S. Navy plane over the South China Sea on Sunday, and after a minor
collision, the American craft made an emergency landing in China, an
American military spokesman said.
The 24
American crew members were not injured.
The EP-3 surveillance
plane was on a routine mission when two Chinese fighters intercepted it,
said Cmdr. Rex Totty of the U.S. Pacific Command at Camp Smith, Hawaii.
The U.S. plane was in international airspace, he said.
The
Chinese Foreign Ministry did not have any immediate comment. The People's
Liberation Army declined comment.
The Navy plane collided with one
of the Chinese fighters. It was not clear if the contact was an accident
or if the Chinese jet tried to bump the American plane, said another
spokesman for Pacific Command, Col. John Bratton.
The EP-3, a
four-engine propeller plane, issued a mayday call before landing at an
airfield on China's Hainan Island, Bratton said.
The Chinese
airplane did not appear to crash, he said.
The U.S. Embassy in
Beijing ``communicated our concern about the incident'' to the Chinese
government, Bratton said. U.S. authorities in Washington contacted the
Chinese Embassy there as well.
The United States asked that the
crew be well treated and that the aircraft be repaired and allowed to
return.
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