Search and rescue teams have stepped up efforts after more debris of two crashed fighter jets was found in an area of sea about 15km north of Phu Quy Island.

Nguyen Hung Tan, head of Binh Thuan Natural Disaster Prevention and Search and Rescue Committee, said searchers had found a rocket launcher, an engine and pieces of wings and tails.

Lieutenant General Be Xuan Truong, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People's Army, said fair weather was helping rescue efforts to locate the pilots of two Sukhoi Su-22 fighter jets, which are believed to have collided and crashed into the sea while on a training exercise on April 16.

Senior Lieutenant General Do Ba Ty, Chief of the General Staff and Deputy Defence Minister, will also go to Phu Quy Island to direct search and rescue efforts.

Border guards, the navy, marine commandos and the coast guard are engaged in the search.

Signals were lost from the two military aircraft from the Air Division 370, based at Thanh Son Military Airport in Ninh Thuan Province during a training exercise on April 16. Crew from a fishing ship said there was a collision and the jets fell from the sky.

Search and rescue teams found a piece of parachute and three fuel tanks quickly but the pilots remain missing.

The Sukhoi Su-22, built by the former Soviet Union, has been in service in the Vietnam Air Force since 1979.

dtinews