Death of second F-4 fighter jet pilot confirmed; Rescue operation concluded (ADDS)

The search-and-rescue operation to locate a missing F-4E Phantom II fighter jet pilot, Flight Lieutenant Efstathios Tsitlakidis, aged 31, was ended on Wednesday after an analysis of the collected evidence from the crash confirmed his death, a Hellenic Air Force announcement said.

The plane had fallen into the sea on January 30 during a training flight, some 25 nautical miles south of the airport of Andravida, with two airmen on board.

Deep condolences to the Flight Lieutenant's family were also expressed in statements and in social media by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Andreas Katsaniotis, Alternate Foreign Affairs Minister Miltiadis Varvitsiotis, and SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance leader Alexis Tsipras.