A PLANE that crashed in northern China may have been North Korean, media reported yesterday. A witness said the plane plowed into an apple orchard, killing its pilot on impact.

South Korean media said the plane, believed to be a fighter jet, appeared to have run out of fuel and might have been piloted by a defector.

Xinhua news agency said the aircraft crashed on Tuesday afternoon in Lagu, a village in Liaoning Province about 150 kilometers from the North Korean border. It cited government officials as saying the plane "might be" North Korean, and said the pilot died.

Xinhua said the aircraft crashed into a civilian makeshift house, leaving no Chinese dead or injured.

The report said China was communicating with North Korea about the matter.

A man who lives in Ersonggou Village, about 5 kilometers from the crash site, said he and other local residents saw the plane flying low over the area before it crashed into an apple orchard.

"The engine was making a very strange noise and it was flying in a very weird way, with its head up and rear down," said the man, who would give only his surname, Ning. "It looked like a piece of scrap iron flying in the sky."

South Korea's Yonhap News Agency cited an unidentified intelligence official as saying the pilot may have been attempting to defect to Russia.

Yonhap said South Korean military radar spotted the aircraft taking off from a base in the northeastern border city of Shinuiju. It cited an unidentified South Korean military source as saying the plane was believed to be a MiG-21 jet.

• yesterday [´jestədi] n.&ad.昨天；前不久 (初中英语单词)
• witness [´witnis] n.见证人 vt.目击 (初中英语单词)
• orchard [´ɔ:tʃəd] n.果园 (初中英语单词)
• agency [´eidʒənsi] n.代理商；机构；代理 (初中英语单词)
• province [´prɔvins] n.省；领域；范围 (初中英语单词)
• intelligence [in´telidʒəns] n.智力；消息 (初中英语单词)
• fighter [´faitə] n.战士；战斗机 (高中英语单词)
• saying [´seiŋ, ´sei-iŋ] n.言语；言论；格言 (高中英语单词)
• defect [di´fekt, ´di:fekt] n.缺点，不足 (高中英语单词)
• civilian [si´viljən] n.平民 a.平民的 (英语四级单词)
• impact [´impækt] n.影响，作用；冲击 (英语六级单词)
• surname [´sə:neim] n.姓氏 (英语六级单词)
• taking [´teikiŋ] a.迷人的 n.捕获物 (英语六级单词)
• northeastern [,nɔ:θ´i:stən] ad.&a.向东北(的) (英语六级单词)