CMV-22 Osprey prepares to take off on the flight line during the Naval Helicopter Association Gulf Coast “Fleet Fly In” at NAS Whiting Field in Milton on Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2023. Syndication: News-Journal
Syndication: News-Journal
A crew member who was recovered from the ocean after a U.S. military Osprey aircraft carrying six people crashed Wednesday off southern Japan has been pronounced dead. Japanese coast guard officials say the cause of the crash and the status of the five others on the aircraft were not immediately known. Initial reports said the aircraft was carrying eight people, but the U.S. military later revised the number to six. The Osprey is a tiltrotor aircraft that can function as a helicopter and a turboprop aircraft. U.S. and Japanese officials say the aircraft belonged to Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo. U.S. Air Force officials at Yokota said they are still confirming information and had no immediate comment.
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, he said . 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, Ogawa said. They were found about 1 kilometer (0.6 mile) off the eastern coast of Yakushima. An empty inflatable life raft was also found in the area.
