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USS Carl Vinson (archive photo): Disaster on approach
Photo: TYRONE SIU/ REUTERS
At least seven sailors were injured when an F-35 fighter jet crashed while attempting to land on a US aircraft carrier in the South China Sea.
Three were taken to the hospital in Manila, Philippines after the accident, the US Navy said.
Her condition was therefore stable.
The four other injured received medical attention while still aboard the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson.
Three of them have already been released from medical care.
The pilot of the F-35C jet was able to save himself by ejecting and was recovered by a military helicopter, the Navy said.
He is in stable condition.
Routine flights were carried out in the region.
The cause of the accident will be determined.
No further details were initially given.
A spokesman for the US Navy's 7th Fleet in Japan said Tuesday that the impact on the flight deck of the USS Carl Vinson was "superficial."
The warship and its air squadron would have resumed normal operations.
The salvage of the crashed fighter plane is in progress, said the spokesman.
China has territorial conflicts with other riparian states in the South China Sea.
Incidents keep happening.
Beijing claims 80 percent of the approximately three million square kilometers of the sea area, which is rich in raw materials and through which important shipping routes lead.
The US military insists on operating freely in international waters.
asa/dpa
