CRASH investigators were last night trying to discover what caused an RAF Tornado F3 jet to crash into the North Sea.

The two crew members ejected from their £20m plane at 10,000ft off the east coast of Scotland.

They suffered only minor bruising after plunging into the water near St Andrews, Fife.

Yesterday the RAF described their escape on Friday night as “remarkable”.

The pilot and navigator, who have not been identified, were on a training exercise from RAF Leuchars when the jet got into difficulty shortly after taking off at 5.45pm.

A rescue search was launched and they were airlifted to hospital within an hour. The men were later transferred to a spinal unit in Nottingham for routine checks.

Wing Commander Kelvin Truss, the officer in charge of 111 Fighter Squadron, said: “They are fine. One of them is almost totally unscathed, the other has got bruises and has bashed his leg about a bit. It’s remarkable considering what they’ve been through.”

As the crewmen parachuted into the water their ejection seats transformed into emergency inflatable dinghies.

The Sea King helicopters scrambled from RAF Boulmer in Northumberland airlifted the pair to Ninewells hospital in Dundee.

Truss said that he found out about the accident when one of the crewmen called him on his mobile phone from the sea.

“He didn’t chat for long, but said he was a bit sore and was waiting for the helicopter to come,” said Truss.

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