TAIPEI: A Taiwan air force Dassault Mirage 2000 fighter jet crashed off the island's northwest coast on Tuesday night and search efforts were ongoing for the pilot, who successfully ejected, the defence ministry and official Central News Agency said.

The defence ministry said the French-built Mirage was conducting nighttime exercises when it suffered a suspected loss of power and the pilot then bailed out.

The Central News Agency said the aircraft had crashed into the sea off Hsinchu on Taiwan's northwest coast, a city home to a major air base.

Search and rescue efforts were ongoing, the ministry said.

Taiwan's air force has suffered a series of crashes in recent years, including in 2022 when it grounded its Mirage fleet after one crashed into the sea off the east coast.

Taiwan received its first of 60 Mirage 2000 jets in 1997, though they have been upgraded several times since then. At least seven have since been lost in accidents.

While Taiwan's air force is well trained, it has been repeatedly scrambling to see off Chinese military aircraft flying near the island in the past five years, though the accidents have not been linked in any way to these intercept activities.

The U.S.-built F-16 fighter jet is the mainstay of Taiwan's air force.

  - Reuters