Alessandro Garofalo / Reuters, file
A U.S. Air Force F-16 fighter jet like the one shown flying over Aviano Air Base, Italy, is presumed to have crashed in the Adriatic Sea while on a training exercise. Aviano controllers lost contact with the plane about 8 p.m. local time Monday.
By John Newland, Staff Writer, NBC News
U.S. and Italian authorities searched the Adriatic Sea on Tuesday after a U.S. Air Force fighter jet was lost and presumed to have crashed.
Controllers lost contact with the F-16 at about 8 p.m. local time (2 p.m. ET) Monday, after it took off for a training exercise from Aviano Air Base, Italy, the Aviano-based 31st Fighter Wing said in a statement.
Italian aircraft and ships were dispatched to the missing jet's last known location, and U.S. and Italian aircraft were flying over the area Tuesday, the Air Force said.
The Italian national news agency ANSA reported that a fuel slick was seen off the coast near the town of Cervia and that a fishing boat had found fragments that could have belonged to a military jet.
A spokeswoman at the base said Tuesday that she was unaware of the reports and that no update was available.
Weather was bad at the time the plane vanished, with sleet falling and visibility poor, the Associated Press quoted an Italian coast guard commander as saying.?
The Italian news agency LaPresse reported that the pilot sent an alarm signal to Aviano before contact was lost and that three other planes on the training mission had made it back to the base safely. ?
The Air Force said in a statement that it was "working under the assumption that the aircraft crashed in the Adriatic."
No information was released about the pilot, who was the plane's sole occupant.
The Associated Press, ANSA and LaPresse contributed to this report
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