LEAKED footage shows the chilling moment a fighter plane burst into flames after crash-landing on board a US Navy carrier.
An F-35 Lightning II combat jet had a “landing mishap” while touching down on the USS Carl Vinson that’s stationed in the South China Sea on January 24.
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Footage shared on the discussion forum Reddit, which has since been verified, shows the plane approaching the flight deck of the vessel.
The F-35 starts descending before beginning to wobble in the air as it tries to touch down.
Audio appears to capture the moment the Landing Signal Officer instructed the pilot of the plane to speed up, abort the landing and go around.
The jet bursts into flames and skids across the deck after crash-landing.
Flames are seen shooting out of the F-35 before the aircraft falls into the ocean. Meanwhile, crews start spraying foam as they try to dampen the blaze.
A second clip uploaded to Twitter shows the jet coming in for landing before it slammed into the flight deck.
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The screen fills with smoke and a loud noise is heard toward the end of the video, while photos show the jet in the water before it sank.
The pilot, who managed to eject before the aircraft hit the deck, was among seven sailors hurt, according to the Navy.
Three sailors had to be taken to Manila, Philippines, for treatment while four sailors were treated onboard the ship, the Associated Press reported.
The extent of their injuries was not disclosed.
Lieutenant Mark Langford, a spokesperson for the 7th Fleet, said the damage to the deck was “superficial” and flight drills had since resumed.
The Navy has yet to explain what caused the crash.
Crews are working to retrieve the plane in waters that are considered to be the most hotly contested in the world.
Beijing claims sovereignty over most of the 1.3million square miles of the South China Sea, sparking disputes with the Philippines and Vietnam.
And it has built a new “Great Wall of China” with fortresses, harbors, and missile silos on dozens of uninhabited islands.
Chinese naval and coast guard vessels maintain a constant presence in the sea and regularly block fishermen from using their historic fishing grounds.
Experts warned that Beijing would want to get its hands on the technology.
Carl Schuster, a former director of operations at the US Pacific Command’s Joint Intelligence Center in Hawaii, said: “China will try to locate and survey it thoroughly using submarines and one of its deep-diving submersibles.”
But, Collin Koh, a research fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, told CNN: “To overtly go about doing this may risk worsening tensions with the US.
“I don’t believe Beijing has stomach for that. However, we can expect the Chinese to shadow, hang around and keep tabs on any such American salvage and recovery operation.”
The Carl Vinson is part of a strike group that has been deployed to the South China Sea to conduct naval drills with the USS Abraham Lincoln.
More than 14,000 sailors and marines are taking part in the drills.
The US and its allies have stepped up their exercises in the South China Sea region as China ramps up its pressure on Taiwan.
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