Debris from the US military Osprey helicopter has been found after plummeting into the sea off the coast of Japan.
Coast Guard officials confirmed one person who was recovered from the ocean has been pronounced dead after the aircraft carrying six people crashed off southern Japan. A deployed lifeboat was found at the site of the crash, as Japan's Coast Guard posted photos of wreckage near Yakushima following a frantic search and rescue operation.
Eyewitnesses claimed the aircraft's left engine appeared to be on fire as it approached Yakushima airport for an emergency landing. According to local media, one of the eyewitnesses said the plane was circling in the air before crashing into the sea.
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Coast Guard aircraft and patrol boats found one person, who was later pronounced dead at a nearby hospital, and gray-colored debris believed to be from the aircraft. The victim was only identified as a male. They were found about 0.6 miles off the eastern coast of Yakushima.
The coast guard received an emergency call from a fishing boat near the crash site off Yakushima, an island south of Kagoshima on the southern main island of Kyushu. Initial reports said the aircraft was carrying eight people, but the U.S. military later revised the number to six. The cause of the crash and the status of the five others on board were not immediately known, Coast Guard spokesperson Kazuo Ogawa said.
The Osprey is a hybrid aircraft that takes off and lands like a helicopter, but during flight can rotate its propellers forward and cruise much faster like an airplane. Versions of the aircraft are flown by the U.S. Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said the Osprey disappeared from radar at midafternoon, a few minutes before the coast guard received the emergency call. The aircraft requested an emergency landing at the Yakushima airport about five minutes before it was lost from radar, NHK public television and other media reported.
Japanese Vice Defense Minister Hiroyuki Miyazawa said it had attempted an emergency sea landing and quoted the U.S. military as saying its pilot “did everything possible until the last minute.”
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said he planned to seek a further explanation from the US military but declined to say whether he would seek a temporary suspension of Osprey operations in Japan.
Ospreys have had a number of accidents in the past, including in Japan, where they are deployed at both U.S and Japanese military bases. In Okinawa, where about half of the 50,000 American troops in Japan are based, Gov. Denny Tamaki told reporters Wednesday that he will ask the U.S. military to suspend all Osprey flights in Japan.
US and Japanese officials said the aircraft belonged to Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo. U.S. Air Force officials at Yokota said they were still confirming information and had no immediate comment.