US Navy fighter jet crashes during carrier landing,7 injured

A U.S. Navy fighter jet attempting to land on an aircraft carrier in the South China Sea had a "landing mishap" on the ship's deck Monday that left seven sailors injured, according to the Navy. The pilot of the F-35c fighter jet was able to eject safely and was recovered from the waters where the carrier, USS Carl Vinson, is operating. Injured sailors, were evacuated to Manila, Philippines for treatment, where their condition was listed as stable. The other four, said the US Navy, were treated by on-board medical personnel. No details were provided on the cause of the incident or the fate of the aircraft. The Pacific Fleet said the incident was under investigation. 

The Vinson and another US carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln, and their strike groups began drills on Sunday in the South China Sea, following exercises with a Japanese naval ship in the Philippine Sea last week. The South China Sea is among China's most sensitive territorial issues and is a frequent area of tension between the United States and China. The news of the US operations coincides with Taiwan reporting the latest mass incursion by China's air force into its air defence identification zone - 39 aircraft - in an area close to the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands in the northern reaches of the South China Sea. Taiwan also reported an anti-submarine Y-8 in the Bashi Channel which separates the country from the Philippines and connects the Pacific to the South China Sea.