A U.S. military spokesman in Hawaii, Army Lt. Col. Stephen Barger, refused to say whether the crew was supposed to destroy their equipment to keep it from falling into foreign hands. The U.S. plane was standing empty at the military airfield where it landed in the town of Lingshui, said a Chinese sailor contacted by telephone at an adjacent naval facility. The sailor, who refused to give his name, said the crew had been moved to a military guesthouse. A salvage ship from the Chinese mainland has joined a military search for the F-8 fighter, which China says crashed after the collision, according to a Hainan provincial maritime official.
Chinese officials say the pilot is missing.
The United States has offered to help China search for it.