US ambassador says spy plane crew held incommunicado

The US ambassador to China claims American officials are being denied contact with the crew of a navy spy plane, more than a day after a collision with a Chinese fighter jet.

Joseph Prueher has called the delay "inexplicable and unacceptable."

Three American diplomats have flown to Hainan island and are making their way to an air base where the EP-3 plane landed on Sunday after the in-flight collision.

There is no indication whether Chinese experts have entered the EP-3 plane to examine its monitoring equipment. American officials insist the Chinese have no right to enter the aircraft.

Chinese leaders have issued no new information since a statement on Sunday blaming the collision on the American pilot. The US ambassador has complained that top officials aren't involved in diplomatic contacts.

"It is inexplicable and unacceptable and of grave concern to the most senior leaders in the United States government that the air crew has been held incommunicado for over 32 hours. The Chinese so far have given us no explanation for holding this crew," Mr Prueher said.

A US military spokesman in Hawaii, Army Lt. Col Stephen Barger, refused to say whether the crew was supposed to destroy their equipment to keep it from falling into foreign hands.

The US plane is standing empty at the military airfield where it landed in the town of Lingshui, said a Chinese sailor contacted by telephone at an adjacent naval facility. The crew has been moved to a military guesthouse, said the sailor, who refused to give his name.

China has accused the pilot of the EP-3 of intruding into Chinese airspace and landing without permission after the collision.

However, a US Embassy spokesman in Beijing insisted the pilot followed "commonly accepted principles of international law" for an emergency landing.

Chinese officials say the crew is safe, according to US officials. They said Washington has asked China to help with repairs and return the crew as quickly as possible.