HANOI, Nov 7, 2024 (AFP) - Search teams in Vietnam have rescued two pilots who parachuted from their military plane before it crashed in the country's mountainous central Highlands during bad weather, state media said Thursday.

The Russian-made Yak-130 aircraft went down during a training flight in dense forest in Ia Pa district in Gia Lai province on Wednesday morning, reports said.

The pilots had problems deploying the aircraft's landing gear, reports added, forcing them to parachute from the aircraft.

They were found 10 hours after the crash when they managed to call authorities from their mobile phones and tell them their location.

Pham Truong Son, deputy chief of the general staff of the Vietnam People's Army, told state media that the wreckage of the aircraft had also been located but heavy rain and strong winds were hampering recovery efforts.

"Extracting a five-ton aircraft from the forest requires specialised equipment and careful planning, so it will take some time," said Son.
Although Vietnam's civilian aviation sector has a strong safety record, accidents involving military aircraft are more common.

In 2023, a pilot was killed after a Russian-made Sukhoi SU-22 military fighter jet crashed in northern Vietnam during a training session.

In one of the country's worst military accidents, 19 people were killed after a Russian-made Mi-171 helicopter crashed in the capital Hanoi during a training exercise in 2014.