Bodies of men killed in South Carolina fighter jet crash found

(Reuters) - The bodies of a 30-year-old pilot and his father, killed when their private plane crashed with an Air Force fighter jet, have been found, South Carolina officials said Thursday.

Joseph Johnson and his father, Michael Johnson, 68, died on Tuesday when an F-16 fighter jet on a training mission to Charleston, South Carolina, collided with their Cessna 150.

Their bodies were recovered on Wednesday in the Cooper River near the crash site, Berkeley County Coroner Bill Salisbury told Reuters.

Preliminary results from the autopsies were expected to be available on Thursday afternoon, with final results and toxicology reports to follow within six weeks, he said.

The pilot of the fighter jet, Major Aaron Johnson, ejected from his plane and survived the crash. He was flying out of Shaw Air Force Base in Sumter on a routine training flight.

(Reporting by Karen Brooks in Austin, Texas; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)