Foreign countries|Airplane accidents
There were ten people in the helicopter at the time of the accident. None of the victims have been found so far.
Thursday into the sea near the island of Miyako-jima having fallen parts of the Japanese UH-60 crew transport helicopter have been found in the sea on Friday, reports news agency AFP.
The helicopter went missing in Okinawa Prefecture, near the border with Taiwan and Japan.
There were ten people on board the plane – two pilots, two mechanics and six crew members – when it disappeared from radar on Thursday afternoon local time.
Coast Guard rescue workers have found parts of the helicopter in the sea, including the door, a broken blade and the life raft that was still in its packaging.
Japan’s Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada said authorities are continuing to search for victims.
“Search and rescue operations continued throughout the night. We have not yet found the general (Yichi) Sakamoto nor the nine others on board the helicopter. We are doing everything we can to find everyone who is missing,” he said.
The cause of the accident is not yet known.
Previous an accident that killed a Japanese air force crew occurred in January 2022 when an F-15 fighter jet crashed into the Sea of Japan. The two crew members on board were killed.
At the beginning of April 2019, a Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth fighter of the Japanese Air Defense Forces fell into the sea off Japan. The plane, flown by a Japanese major, disappeared from the radar in the middle of a training flight. Before disappearing from radar, the pilot sent a mission abort message.
The cause of the accident was initially suspected to be an equipment failure, but the accident investigation revealed that the pilot had probably suffered a dizzy spell or lost consciousness.
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