Two are feared dead in jet crash

ONE MAN has been killed and another presumed dead after an RAF Tornado fighter aircraft crashed into the North Sea, coastguards said last night.

The jet had been on a routine training flight with two other Tornadoes off Flamborough Head near Bridlington, Yorkshire, when it vanished from radar screens yesterday.

A massive air and sea search was immediately launched. After a seven- hour operation, wreckage of the F3 fighter was found 20 miles off the coast and one body was recovered.

The crew of the plane were last night named as pilot Squadron Leader William Michael Vivian, 33, of Cheshire, and navigator Flight Lieutenant Derek Stuart Lacey, also 33, of Altrincham, Cheshire.

Squadron Leader Vivian was an experienced pilot who had been based at RAF Coningsby since August 1992. Flt Lt Lacey had been stationed at Coningsby for six years.

Both men were married with young families. A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: "It has not been possible to identify the recovered body. The two men were very well liked individuals and will be sadly missed by everyone in their community. It is always sad when men like this die but when they have young families it is especially tragic."