Two US Navy jets collide off North Carolina coast

Crew members have been rescued and airlifted to a hospital.

Two F/A-18E Super Hornets perform demonstrations. (Ignacio D. Perez/US Navy)

Two US Navy F/A-18 fighter jets have collided mid-air off the North Carolina coast during a routine training mission, hospitalizing four servicemen.

The jets were based in Virginia Beach and accidentally collided at 10:40am off the coast of Cape Hatteras, officials announced on Thursday.

Three of the servicemen were unharmed, while one suffered a minor leg injury, Geoffrey Pagels, a US Coast Guard rescue specialist, told NBC News.

A commercial fishing ship pulled the four survivors out of the Atlantic Ocean to safety. They were later flown by a Coast Guard hospital to a hospital in Norfolk.

Officials added that an investigation is underway to determine the cause of the accident.