A Vietnamese army pilot died in the crash of his plane on Tuesday (January 31st) while flying over the north of the country for an exercise, the official press agency reported.
The aircraft, a Russian model Sukhoi SU-22 from the Vietnam Air Force, crashed at a military airport in the mountainous province of Yen Bai, according to Vietnam News.
Frequent accidents in the Air Force
"
The pilot had received the order to eject but he tried to save the plane (...) and he died
," reported the agency, without specifying the cause of the accident.
Civil aviation is very safe in Vietnam, but military aircraft accidents are more common.
Read alsoUnprecedented alliance between London, Rome and Tokyo in combat aviation
In October 2016, a military helicopter crashed in the southern province of Ba Ria Vung Tau, killing three passengers.
Three other army aircraft crashes had occurred earlier the same year, resulting in 11 fatalities.
In 2014, 19 people were killed when a Russian-made M-171 helicopter crashed in the capital Hanoi, again during an exercise, which became one of the worst military accidents in Vietnam.