Rescuers today intensified a search for the pilot of a Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) fighter jet a day after it crashed in Pahang, an air force spokesman said.

Four aircraft and more than 100 military and police personnel were involved in the hunt for the pilot of the MiG-29 fighter jet who is believed to have ejected safely before it crashed in an oil-palm plantation yesterday, he said.

Whereabouts unknown

"Up to now, we do not know where he is, whether he is injured or not," Deputy Defence Minister Zainal Abidin Zin said.

"We could assume that he may have been trapped on top of tall trees as there is some difficulty for him to contact the air base," Zainal Abidin was quoted as saying by the Bernama news agency.

The pilot, Fajim Jusfar Mohamed Mustafa, 35, was on a training exercise when the engine is believed to have caught fire before the plane went down.

His father was killed in an RMAF helicopter crash in 1989, Bernama said.