LOS ANGELES (AFP) - The pilot of an F-16 fighter jet that crashed while training in Arizona came from Taiwan and is presumed dead, the US Air Force said on Friday (Jan 22).

The plane crashed on Thursday morning north of Luke Air Force Base near the small town of Bagdad in the south-western state.

"Sadly, last night our Interim Safety Board members discovered human remains at the crash site of the F-16 from Taiwan," Brigadier-General Scott Pleus said.

"This evidence leads me to believe the pilot did not survive the crash and is therefore presumed dead."

The Taiwanese pilot and the plane were part of a training program led by the US Air Force.

The cause of the crash is still under investigation.

At the end of November, an F-16 pilot who took off from Holloman Air Force Base in neighboring New Mexico ejected safely during a training run. That plane came from a unit based at Luke.

The F-16 is manufactured by Lockheed Martin and is used by about 20 countries.