U.S. Navy plane crashes during air show

A U.S. Navy aircraft crashed Saturday during an airshow in Beaufort, South Carolina, and the pilot was killed, U.S. media reported.

CNN said it was not known if the pilot was able to eject during the crash, but FOX News quoted a local newspaper in South Carolina as saying that the pilot was killed and the coroner was on his way to the scene of the crash.

The plane that crashed some 30 minutes into the airshow was Number Six of the six Navy Blue Angel jets flying at the show.

There were controversial reports regarding the cause of the crash. Some said it hit a tree and went down, other indicated the plane clipped power lines.

TV reports said some houses at a neighborhood in Beaufort were on fire, and there were no reports of casualties on the ground so far.

The Blue Angels were based in Pensacola, Florida, and flew F/A- 18 Hornets.

In Florida, a small plane carrying five passengers crashed Saturday off the coast of Fort Lauderdale Beach, and it was not yet known whether there were any survivors.

On Friday night, another small plane, a Cessna 182, crashed off the Florida Keys, and three people aboard the plane were believed dead.

Source: Xinhua