Taiwanese pilot killed

TAIPEI: A Taiwanese pilot was killed on Thursday after his fighter jet crashed off the island’s eastern coast during routine training, the air force said, in the second fatal air crash in three months.

Pilot Chu Kuang-meng ejected from the F-5E jet after reporting an engine malfunction shortly after take-off, the air force said. The 29-year-old was rescued from the sea unconscious but could not be revived. The crash comes as Taiwan’s aged and under-equipped air force is forced to meet an unprecedented level of incursions into its defence zone by Chinese fighters.