Body of Swiss pilot discovered in Alps

Swiss officials announced on Wednesday that the missing body of a fight jet pilot had been discovered two days after his plane disappeared in the Alps.

The single-occupancy F/A 18-C aircraft originally took off from a base in Meiringen in central Switzerland for a training flight on Monday. The pilot responded to an initial message from the airbase, but was not heard from again.

Wreckage from the plane was found on Tuesday about 33 kilometers (20 miles) from Meiringen in the Susten Pass. Authorities then discovered the remains of the 27-year-old career military man a day later, but did not release his name.

Military investigators have not yet identified the cause of the crash.

This is the latest in a series of recent accidents to befall the Swiss air force. In June, while practicing for an air show in the Netherlands, an F-5 aircraft carrying a Swiss pilot collided with another plane in mid-air, although both soldiers luckily escaped without injury.

Last October, a different Swiss F/A 18-C floundered in the Doubs area of France, with the pilot receiving only minor injuries.

es/kms (AP, Reuters)