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Caribbean
Unresponsive US plane that flew over Cuba crashes off Jamaican coast
The plane was pursued by US fighter jets until it entered Cuban airspace.
TWO US MILITARY aircraft were scrambled over the Atlantic Ocean to follow an unresponsive small private aircraft that has flown over Cuba.
The fighter jets ended their pursuit as the plane entered Cuban airspace with NBC reporting that the pilot of the small plane was seen ‘unconscious and slumped over’.
The plane continued to fly south over the Caribbean sea and Jamaican military officials have now confirmed that it crashed 14 miles off the coast.
The Socata TBM-700 failed to respond to attempts to communicate with it after departing from Rochester, New York on a flight to Naples, Florida, prompting the North American Aerospace Defense Command to scramble two F-15s.
Several flight tracking websites have said that they have lost contact with the plane after it crossed Cuba and headed towards Jamaica over the Caribbean sea.
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“They’ve broken off, we’re no longer monitoring it,” a NORAD spokesperson told AFP after the plane crossed into Cuban airspace.
The United States and Cuba have not had full official diplomatic relations for more than half a century.
- Additional reporting by © – AFP 2014
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