PILOT DIES AS US SPRAY PLANE EXPLODES OVER COCA FIELDS

BOGOTA, Colombia ( AP ) - A State Department plane crashed Monday and exploded while spraying to destroy drug crops in southern Colombia, killing the pilot, the U.S.  Embassy said.

The name of the pilot, who was not a U.S.  citizen, was being withheld until relatives could be notified, the embassy said.  There were no reports of groundfire when the plane struck a tree while on a plant-spraying mission south of Larandia army base, the embassy said in a statement.

The OV-10 was one of five planes flying in formation when it crashed.  The planes, which often are protected by U.S.-trained Colombian army troops flying aboard U.S.-donated combat helicopters, spray coca fields to kill the cocaine-producing crop.