DATE: Saturday, October 25, 1997            TAG: 9710250286

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A14  EDITION: FINAL 

DATELINE: TOKYO                             LENGTH:   18 lines

U.S. MARINE JET CRASHES OFF COAST; PILOT SLIGHTLY HURT

A U.S. Marine Corps Harrier fighter jet crashed Friday in the sea off southwestern Japan, but the pilot escaped without serious injury, the U.S. military said.

The pilot, Capt. Jeffrey G. Sortor, was rescued by a Japanese fisherman after ejecting from the aircraft. Sortor, from Nordland, Wash., was treated for minor abrasions.

The crash took place 200 yards east of the air station in Iwakuni, 500 miles southwest of Tokyo. KEYWORDS: ACCIDENT MILITARY ACCIDENT PLANE

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