NAPLES, Italy -- A U.S. F-16 jet fighter on a NATO mission crashed into the Adriatic Sea off the coast of Croatia Wednesday, but the pilot ejected safely and was plucked from the water by a British Royal Navy helicopter, NATO officials said.
A communique issued by the Allied Forces Southern Europe (AFSOUTH) command in Naples said the American pilot 'is reported to be in good condition' and was taken to the Croatian port of Split.
The pilot's identity was not immediately released.
The AFSOUTH statement said the F-16 was returning to its base at Aviano in northern Italy after a mission for NATO's 'Operation Deny Flight,' which NATO launched from Italian bases in April to enforce a U.N. order banning flights over embattled Bosnia-Herzegovina.
'The pilot experienced an aircraft malfunction, which led to his decision to eject just before noon local time (1000 GMT),' the NATO command said. 'There were no indications of hostile fire being involved.'
It said the jet fighter 'crashed in the waters of the Adriatic, about 40 miles northwest of Zadar,' a Croatian port in the northern Adriatic.
In London, the British Defense Ministry said the pilot was plucked out of the sea by a Royal Navy Sea King helicopter based at Split.
NATO sources in Rome said the helicopter took the pilot to its base at Split, where he was transferred to a U.S. Air Force C-130 transport plane and flown back to his base at Aviano, in northeastern Italy, near Venice.
It was the second time a NATO plane involved in Operation Deny Flight crashed into the Adriatic since the operation started in April. On April 12, a French Air Force Mirage jet suffered engine trouble and crashed into the sea after taking off from Italy for Bosnia-Herzegovina, but the pilot ejected safely and was rescued by a French navy helicopter.
