JEDDAH, 12 May — A Saudi Air Force pilot, Maj. Mubarak Saad Al-Ghamdi, 37, and six Americans including a navy lieutenant commander died in Pensacola, Florida in an air collision.
The US Navy announced yesterday that coast guard and navy ships and helicopters have called off a search after two navy jets vanished over the Gulf of Mexico and the seven missing are presumed dead.
“Extensive efforts in the search and rescue for the missing personnel were exhausted,” the navy website said.
Two T-39 Sabreliner jets, flown by two civilian contractor pilots, disappeared from radar on Wednesday afternoon about 40 miles south of Pensacola during a routine training mission.
The seven were assigned to Training Squadron 86, part of Training Wing 6, at the Pensacola Naval Air Station.
An investigation was under way to determine the cause of the crash of the Sabreliners, which are used to train student naval flight officers, the navy said.
Ghamdi, who was a Royal Air Force pilot at King Khaled Airbase in Khamis Mushayt, is survived by his wife, three daughters and two sons. His family is still in the United States.
