A total of 130 soldiers, 95 police and 60 firefighters as well as three helicopters began searching the crash site, Yonhap news agency reported, citing local government officials. The crash occurred about 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) south of the base of the KT-1 aircraft in the southeastern city of Sacheon, at about 1:37 p.m. (0437 GMT), the Air Force said. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register “Despite their emergency escape efforts … all two student pilots and two flight instructors on both planes died,” she said in a statement. President Moon Jae-in expressed his condolences to the families of the victims. The Air Force said there were no civilian casualties, but formed a team to determine the cause of the crash and the damage, including the community of residents. The crash site is located in a predominantly rural area and photos published by Yonhap show smoke rising from a mountain and a car shattering from aircraft wreckage while parked in front of a farmhouse. The KT-1 is a single-engine basic training and light attack aircraft jointly built by the State Agency for Defense Development and a contractor, Korea Aerospace Industries. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Report by Hyonhee Shin Edited by Clarence Fernandez, Mark Potter and Raju Gopalakrishnan Our role models: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
