All four crew members aboard a South Korean navy plane have been killed after the aircraft crashed in the southeastern coastal city of Pohang, the navy has said.
The P-3C Orion turboprop plane which is used for marine patrols, took off from its base in the city at 1:43 pm and crashed due to unknown reasons, the navy said in a statement.
It said it had identified the bodies of the four crew members and was in the process of recovering them.
There were no immediate reports of civilian casualties on the ground.
The navy has set up a task force to investigate the crash and has temporarily grounded its fleet of P-3s, dubbed “submarine killers” due to their submarine fighting abilities.
An emergency office in Pohang said that rescuers and fire trucks were dispatched to the site after receiving reports from residents that an aircraft had crashed on a hill near an apartment complex and caused a fire.
Photos showed firefighters and emergency vehicles near the P-3C crash site with flames flickering as smoke engulfed nearby trees.
Local emergency services said two helicopters and 40 firefighters had been deployed to the area to fight the fire.
The South Korean navy is in the middle of plans to upgrade its aeroplane fleet to Boeing P-8A Poseidon, set to be completed by mid-2025.
