Vietnam Picks Up 3 Navy Fliers From Ditched Plane

Three U.S. Navy fliers who ditched their disabled plane near the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea have been picked up by Vietnamese naval forces, Radio Hanoi said Friday.

The fliers were identified as Lt. Richard K. Maurer, 30, of Harveys Lake, Pa., the pilot; Lt. (j.g.) Elizabeth Steinnecker, 29, of Tampa, Fla., the co-pilot; and Petty Officer 1st Class Michael R. Neel, 34, of Albuquerque, N.M.

A Vietnamese spokesman said the fliers were taken to Vietnam, but Navy officials in Washington could not confirm that.

A U.S. Embassy official in Bangkok, who asked not to be identified, said Vietnam is likely to return the three quickly. A U.S. government spokesman in Manila said, “Our presumption is that they will be returned.”

“The Vietnamese people’s naval forces have saved the three Americans on board the plane,” Radio Hanoi said in a broadcast monitored in Bangkok. “The victims were given care and good treatment, and the Vietnamese government has informed the American government of this accident.”

The radio quoted the American fliers as saying their plane malfunctioned during a flight from Singapore to Subic Bay Naval Base in the Philippines.

Nguyen Van Quan, a spokesman for the Vietnamese Embassy in Bangkok, said that Vietnamese Ambassador Le Mai informed U.S. Ambassador William Brown on Friday morning that Vietnam had rescued the fliers and was treating them “very kindly.”

“The latest report said they (the three crew members) have been brought to the mainland safe and sound and have been given very good care,” Quan said. He said he did not know exactly where the Americans were in Vietnam.

State Department spokeswoman Phyllis Oakley said, “We appreciate the humanitarian assistance rendered in this situation by Vietnamese government officials, their rapid action in rescuing the crew and their cooperation in facilitating the interim care and safe return of the crew members.”

Asked what Hanoi intends to do with the crew, she said, “It is our view that they are arranging for the crew’s rapid return and discussions are under way in this regard in Bangkok.”

The Navy fliers were forced to ditch their CT-39E light transport Tuesday afternoon when their navigational instruments failed and the plane ran out of fuel, a Navy spokesman in Manila said. All three fliers are assigned to Fleet Logistics Support Squadron 50 at Cubi Point, the naval air station adjoining Subic Bay.

An intensive search for them was concentrated in the southern part of the South China Sea near the Spratly Islands where China and Vietnam fought a sea battle in March. Both countries claim the islands, which are also claimed by Taiwan, Malaysia and the Philippines.