A U.S. Air Force F-15C Eagle fighter jet crashed into the North Sea off the coast of England on Monday, the Air Forces’ 48th Fighter Wing confirmed.
The jet, deployed from Royal Air Force Base Lakenheath, in eastern England, northeast of London, crashed at about 4:40 a.m. Eastern.
“At the time of the accident, the aircraft was on a routine training mission with one pilot on board,” the 48th Fighter Wing said in a brief statement, adding that the cause of the crash and the status of the pilot remained unclear.
The Air Force said a British search and rescue team had been called to support the efforts to find the pilot.
