The Ministry of Defence will give posthumous promotions to the nine crew members of the Casa 212 who died while searching for a missing fighter jet.
Nine crew members on the Casa 212
The Central Party Committee of the military forces and the Ministry of Defence decided to raise the ranks and President Tran Dai Quang will award first-class Fatherland Defence Orders to the crew.
The Ministry of Defence is also working with the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs to recognise the crew members as martyrs.
The funeral for all nine members will be held at the Ministry of Defence Funeral Service House in Hanoi on June 30.
As of June 28, eight bodies out of the nine missing crew members have been found near Bach Long Vy Island off coast of the northern city of Haiphong. The search and rescue team is still searching for the last crew member and plane debris. The plane's black box has also been found and the Ministry of Defence is working with experts to find the cause of the crash.
A Su-30 Mk2 fighter jet went missing during a training session on June 14. Only one of two pilots survived after being rescued by fishermen. The Casa 212 carrying nine flight crew crashed on June 16 while searching for the missing pilot. It is believed that the plane was flying at low altitude when it crashed due to bad weather.
