Rescuers were yesterday searching for two pilots after a new Taiwanese Air Force F-16 jet fighter crashed into the sea.
The plane went down off the Penghu Islands. The pilots, Major Wen Chin-sung and Captain Chang Chia-chung, were missing.
Military authorities were hoping the pair had ejected, but by last night rescue crews had yet to find any signs of them in bad weather and high waves.
The fighter plane was believed to have plunged into the sea at about 3 pm after it disappeared from air traffic controllers' radar screens 30 nautical miles west of the Huayu islet, television reports said.
A fleet of military and civilian vessels was sent to the scene as strong winds prevented helicopter rescue missions, military authorities said.
High waves and poor weather were complicating rescue efforts, Marine Police said.
It was the first crash involving the newly manufactured US-built aircraft.