Marines missing as US planes collide

FIVE US marines were missing after two Marine Corps aircraft collided in mid-air and crashed into the sea off the coast of Japan during an air-to-air refuelling exercise yesterday, Japanese and American officials said.

Japan’s defence ministry said its maritime forces had found two of the seven Marines who were aboard the aircraft – an F/A-18 Hornet fighter jet and a KC-130 Hercules – at the time of the incident.

One was in a stable condition at a Marine Corps Air Station, the second was found 10 hours after the crash and brought aboard a Japanese military vessel.