JERUSALEM, Nov. 11 (UPI) -- A search was under way Thursday for an Israeli air force crew believed killed in an F-161 fighter jet crash in the Negev desert, army officials said.
The jet was leading a four aircraft training exercise Wednesday evening when it crashed in a canyon near Mitspeh Ramon, Haaretz said.
The army Thursday said it was unclear if the two crew members -- identified as pilot Maj. Amichai Itkis, 28, and navigator Maj. Emanuel Levy, 30 -- managed to eject. The army said their families were notified.
During the investigation of the crash, all flights will be suspended, the army said.
Military officials said the crew reported no problems before the jet suddenly fell to the ground.
The F-161 is the main fighter used by the army, which purchased 102 of the two-seaters from Lockheed Martin from 2004 to 2008, the newspaper said.
The last fatal crash involving an F-161 on Israeli soil was in September 2009 when Capt. Asaf Ramon, the son of the late Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon, was killed when his jet crashed in the southern Hebron Hills.
