TOKYO: Japan’s Defense Ministry said Monday it has found the body of the second pilot who remained missing after an Air Self-Defense Force fighter jet with two pilots aboard crashed into the sea two weeks ago.

The second body was discovered by Maritime Self-Defense Force divers around the F-15 fighter shortly after 9 a.m. Sunday, according to the ASDF.

The body of the other pilot was also discovered around the area, on Friday.

The two bodies have been identified as those of the F-15 fighter’s pilots–Col. Koji Tanaka, 52 and Capt. Ryusei Ueta, 33.

The ASDF declined to reveal which of their bodies was found first, citing possible implications for the investigation into the crash.

At around 5:30 p.m. on Jan. 31, the F-15 fighter went off the radar at a point over the Sea of Japan about 5 kilometres west-northwest of the ASDF Komatsu base in Ishikawa Prefecture, central Japan, soon after taking off from the base for nighttime training.

The two pilots belonged to the ASDF tactical fighter training group at the Komatsu base. The group, staffed by elite pilots, helps train pilots at other bases for aerial combat.

Tanaka, a veteran pilot with 2,800 flight hours in total, was the head of the training group. Previously, he had led the ASDF’s Blue Impulse aerobatic team.

The ASDF plans to salvage the aircraft in the near future to closely examine the cause of the crash. An air traffic controller at the base is said to have seen an orange flash of light soon after the aircraft took off.

JIJI Press