TOKYO (AP) — A U.S. Air Force Osprey based in Japan crashed off the country’s southern coast on Wednesday during a training mission, killing at least one of the eight crew members, the Japan Coast Guard said.
The cause of the crash and the status of the seven others on board are not immediately known, said Japanese Coast Guard spokesman Kazuo Ogawa.
The U.S. Air Force’s Special Operations Command said in a statement that the CV-22B Osprey belonged to the 353rd Special Operations Squadron assigned to Yokota Air Base. The crash occurred “during a routine training mission off the coast of Yakushima Island,” the command said.
While the US Marine Corps has most Ospreys stationed in Japan, the Air Force also has some stationed there.
The Air Force Special Operations Command said search and rescue operations were underway. A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about the crash, could not provide further information on the condition of the crew pending notification of next of kin.
The Osprey is a hybrid aircraft that takes off and lands like a helicopter, but can turn its propellers forward during flight and fly much faster than an airplane.
Ospreys have had several accidents in the past, including in Japan, where they are stationed at U.S. and Japanese military bases. In Okinawa, where about half of America’s 50,000 troops are based, Gov. Denny Tamaki told reporters on Wednesday that he would ask the U.S. military to halt all Osprey flights in Japan.
Ogawa said the coast guard received a distress call on Wednesday afternoon from a fishing boat near the crash site off Yakushima, an island south of Kagoshima on the southern main island of Kyushu.
Coast Guard planes and patrol boats found one person, identified only as a male, who was later pronounced dead by a doctor at a nearby port, Ogawa said. They also found gray debris believed to be from the plane and an empty inflatable life raft in an area about a kilometer (0.6 miles) off the east coast of Yakushima, he said.
The Coast Guard said it planned to continue the search overnight.
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said the Osprey disappeared from radar minutes before the coast guard received the distress call. The plane made an emergency landing at Yakushima airport about five minutes before it disappeared from radar, public television NHK and other news outlets reported.
NHK quoted a Yakushima resident as saying he saw the plane turn upside down, fire coming from one of its engines and then an explosion before it crashed into the sea.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said he planned to seek further explanation from the U.S. military but declined to say whether he would seek a temporary suspension of Osprey operations in Japan.
Ogawa said the plane took off from U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni in Yamaguchi Prefecture and crashed en route to Kadena Air Base on Okinawa.
Japanese Vice Defense Minister Hiroyuki Miyazawa said an emergency landing at sea was attempted and quoted the U.S. military as saying its pilot “did everything possible until the last minute.”
Yokota Air Base is home to the U.S. Forces of Japan and the Fifth Air Force. Six CV-22 Ospreys were deployed to Yokota, including the one that crashed.
In December 2016, a US Marine Corps Osprey crashed off the coast of Okinawa, injuring two of the five crew members and sparking complaints from local residents about US bases in Okinawa and the Osprey’s safety record.
A US Marine Corps Osprey with 23 Marines on board crashed on an island in northern Australia in August, killing three Marines and seriously injuring at least five others who were aboard a multinational exercise.
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Copp reported from Washington, DC