U.S. warplane crashes; two on board safely eject

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- A U.S. Navy warplane crashed into the Caribbean Sea as it approached an aircraft carrier for landing, a Navy official said Tuesday. The two servicemen on board safely ejected.

The F-14D Tomcat fighter jet crashed Sunday more than a half mile from the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt involved in exercises off the Puerto Rican island of Vieques, said Lt. Fred Kuebler, spokesman for the Second Fleet in Norfolk, Va.

The pilot and flight officer ejected from the plane and were plucked from the water by a rescue helicopter after the crash about 60 miles off Puerto Rico. Neither had serious injuries, Kuebler said.

An investigation was under way to determine the cause of the crash.

The Navy did not identify the servicemen but said they were part of Fighter Squadron 213, based at Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach, Va.

The $40 million plane was in training exercises off Vieques. Training on the island has been criticized by Puerto Rican leaders since off-target bombs killed a civilian guard in 1999.

Activists claim the exercises, which began in 1947, have endangered the environment and the health of the island's 9,100 residents. The Navy denies the claims, but plans to withdraw from Vieques by May 1.

The current round of training, the last scheduled on Vieques, could last into early February. Exercises continued Tuesday, with a guided-missile cruiser firing inert shells at the island, officials said.

On Sept. 10, three servicemen were killed when a Navy S-3B Viking jet also crashed into the Caribbean off Puerto Rico. The cause of that crash remains under investigation.