US Air Force F-15 fighter crashes off Okinawa, Japan; pilot rescued
An F-15 I fighter jet flies during an air show in the Negev desert, near the southern Israeli city of Beersheva, on December 27, 2012.
The pilot of a US Air Force F-15 fighter that crashed off Okinawa, southern Japan, has been plucked from the ocean.
The F-15, from the Kadena base on the island of Okinawa, developed the unspecified problem on Tuesday morning, CNN cited the US Air Force as saying.
The unnamed pilot remained in contact with Japanese and US rescuers.
According to The New York Times, citing Toru Michizaki of the Japanese Coast Guard, said the Japanese authorities immediately sent boats and aircraft to the scene and spotted the pilot clinging to a raft.
He was picked up by a Japanese Self Defense Force helicopter, while the crash remained under investigation.