Seoul, March 13
Two South Korean Air Force fighter jet pilots were booked on Thursday for charges related to last week's accidental bombing of a village after pilot error was found to be the cause of the accident, the Defence Ministry said.
Last Thursday, two KF-16 fighter jets dropped eight MK-82 bombs outside a training range in Pocheon, some 40 kilometres north of Seoul, during live-fire drills, injuring 38 people, including 24 civilians.
"The Criminal Investigation Command has confirmed in the probe to date that the pilots' erroneous entry of target coordinates was the direct cause of the accident," the Defence Ministry said in a notice to reporters.
The pilots, booked as of Thursday, have been charged with professional negligence resulting in injury, according to the ministry, Yonhap news agency reported.
They were also charged for damaging military facilities, including a church, the ministry said.
In an interim probe released Monday, the Air Force pointed to pilot error for the accidental bombing, saying the pilots had at least three opportunities to catch their mistake after entering the wrong target coordinates prior to takeoff.
The Air Force also attributed the accident to inadequate management and inspection procedures and dismissed two unit commanders over their failure to give specific instructions to their subordinates.
Meanwhile, the pilots were found to have manually adjusted the altitude of the target coordinates by 1,500 feet on the day of the accident, according to the Air Force.
The computer system automatically calculated a new altitude after the pilots wrongly entered the target's latitude coordinates, but the pilots fixed them in accordance with the training plan.
Had the pilots not adjusted the altitude manually, the bombs could have fallen on a block of military residential buildings, possibly leading to more casualties.
The Air Force said adjusting the altitude in accordance with the training plan is customary but said details of the action should be further probed, without confirming whether altering the altitude by 1,500 feet is usual.
Separately, the Air Force plans to hold a meeting next week to deliberate on whether the two pilots will be qualified to continue to operate aircraft.
- IANS