A Bangladesh Air Force pilot is missing after his fighter jet crashed in the Bay of Bengal near Chittagong yesterday morning.

Bangladesh Navy, the air force, Bangladesh Coast Guard and Chittagong Port Authority are looking for Flight Lieutenant Rumman Tahmid and the wreckage of his plane.

The F-7MB aircraft lost contact with the control room of BAF Base Zahurul Haque 42 minutes after it took off from the base in Patenga of Chittagong at 10:28am on a training mission, said Noor Islam, assistant director of Inter Service Public Relations (ISPR).

Local boatmen saw parts of the plane floating on the water and the pieces were recovered around 2:00pm about 6 nautical miles from the base.

Naval officers showing a small piece of an F-7 fighter jet of the Bangladesh Air Force that crashed into the Bay after taking off from the BAF Base Zahurul Haque in Chittagong yesterday. The pilot of the aircraft is missing. Photo: Star

The fuselage and the engine of the aircraft could not be located.

The BAF has formed a three-member committee to probe the accident.

The aircraft was bought from China three to four years ago, the ISPR official said.

A naval ship searching for the missing pilot of the F-7 fighter that went down into the Bay of Bengal yesterday morning. Photo: Star