Chittagong: Coastguards found debris of the Bangladesh Air Force (BAF) plane that crashed into the sea in the outer anchorage Bravo areas, some 5-7 miles west from Patenga lighthouse, on Monday.

Three parts of the crashed plane have so far been recovered, said sources at Bangladesh Coastguard.

However, pilot Tahmid Rumman Chowdhury, Flight Lieutenant of Bangladesh Air Force, still remained missing.

Meanwhile, the search operation was continuing till filing of this report at about 11:00am.

Air Force officials said the F-7 aircraft that took off at about 10:27am from the Zahurul Haque Air Base lost contact with the control room at about 11:10am.

The aircraft crashed into the sea about 6-8 miles away from Patenga beach, said wing commander Nur-e-Alam.

He said they confirmed that the plane crashed at about 11:50am.

Nur-e-Alam, however, could not exactly say what caused the aircraft to crash. A probe body will be formed to look into the accident, he added.

Local boatmen claimed that they have seen some damaged parts of the of fighter plane were floating in the sea some time after the crash.

Several teams of the Air Force, Navy and Coast Guard who launched a rescue operation soon after the accident could not yet trace the pilot.