The plane was scheduled to fly to a base on the island of Okinawa.
Kagoshima Prefecture mentions a cry for help from inmates who warned of a “burning left engine.”
An air transport device V-22 Osprey of’United States Army sank at sea this Wednesday, November 29th, near the island of Yakushima. Japan announces the Japanese news channel NHK.
This plane, half plane, half helicopter had taken off from the American naval air base at Iwakuni nearby Hiroshima (Western Japan). He was supposed to go to another US military base in Kadena on the island Okinawaat the southwestern tip of the Japanese archipelago.
According to initial information eight people was on board of the Osprey at the time of its crash.
Several fatal accidents
According to the Yakushima Fishermen’s Association, several boats fishing in the surrounding waters quickly searched the area, NHK reports. Three people have reportedly been found so far, but their health status is unknown.
Osprey devices, from a American cooperation between the aircraft manufacturer Boeing and the specialist for Bell helicopterfeature two motors at the end of the wings that can rotate to switch to helicopter mode for vertical takeoff or airplane mode for faster flight.
After several fatal accidents, including the most recent one in August, in which three US Marines have been killed in northern AustraliaThe safety of these hybrid devices has been questioned.