At Least One Dead as US Air Force Osprey Aircraft Crashes during Training off Japan

TOKYO: A U.S Air Force Osprey aircraft based in Japan crashed during a training mission Wednesday off of the country’s southern coast, killing at least one, the Japanese coast guard said.

U.S officials said search and rescue operations of the aircraft which had eight crew members on board at the time of the accident is underway.  

“The aircraft, an Air Force CV-22B Osprey assigned to the 353rd Special Operations Wing, was carrying eight airmen when it experienced an “aircraft mishap” during a “routine training mission,” according to Air Force Special Operations Command.

Adding, “Emergency personnel are on scene conducting search and rescue operations,” Air Force Special Operations Command said in a release. “The cause of the mishap is currently unknown.”

The Osprey is a hybrid aircraft that takes off and lands like a helicopter, but during flight it can rotate its propellers forward and cruise much faster like an airplane.

Ospreys have had a number of accidents in the past, including in Japan, where they are deployed at U.S. and Japanese military bases.

Suspend flights

In Okinawa, where about half of the 50,000 American troops are based, Gov. Denny Tamaki told reporters Wednesday that he would ask the U.S. military to suspend all Osprey flights in Japan.

Ogawa said the coast guard received an emergency call 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 aircraft and patrol boats found one male crew member, who was later pronounced dead by a doctor at a nearby port, Ogawa said.

They also found gray debris believed to be from the aircraft and an empty inflatable life raft in an area about 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) off the eastern coast of Yakushima, he said.

The coast guard said it planned to continue searching through the night.

• Reporting by agencies