Authorities say a US military Osprey plane crashed into seas off the coast of southern Japan on Wednesday morning, killing at least one person and leaving five others missing.
According to a provincial coast guard spokeswoman, the jet fell into the water near Yakushima, an island approximately 45 miles south of the Kagoshima district on Kyushu’s southern main island.
The coast guard had previously stated that eight persons were on board the jet, but that count has now been reduced downward. Later that day, the Air Force Special Operations Command issued a statement claiming that eight people were on board.
The coast guard verified that one guy was retrieved from the water “unconscious and not breathing” 1.8 miles from Anbo Port on the eastern side of Yakushima by a boat from the Yakushima Town Rescue Center.
According to the report, they were given CPR and transported to Anbo Port. The unidentified crew member was later declared deceased.
There were no quick updates on the status of the plane or the remaining passengers.
The coast guard stated in a statement that at 2:47 p.m. (12:47 a.m. ET), a member of the public dialed 118, Japan’s version of 911. The coast guard stated that patrol vessels and planes were quickly dispatched to the location.
The coast guard said that around 4 p.m. (2 a.m. ET), a rescue team comprised of coast guard and local rescue boats discovered “wreckage-like debris” and an overturned life raft. According to the coast guard, there were no persons on the raft.
According to the AFSOC, the CV-22B Osprey is located at Yokota Air Base and assigned to the 353rd Special Operations Wing.
The aircraft was engaged in a “mishap while performing a routine training mission off the shore of Yakushima Island,” according to the Air Force.
“In light of this incident, the minister of defense has asked the relevant departments to cooperate with the Japan Coast Guard to confirm whether or not there are any victims and to do their utmost to rescue them,” Japan’s vice defense minister, Hiroyuki Miyazawa, told local media.
When asked why he didn’t call the occurrence a crash, Miyazawa replied, “The U.S. side explained to us that the pilot did his best until the very end, so we’re using the term ’emergency water landing.'”
The Osprey is a hybrid aircraft known for its distinctive “tiltrotor” flight technology, which allows it to fly like an airplane yet take off and land like a helicopter.
In recent years, there have been a number of tragic aviation accidents.
In August, an Osprey carrying 23 US troops crashed in Australia during a routine training exercise, killing three people, including the pilot.
Following the loss of four US marines on board an MV-22 in Norway five months earlier, all five US marines on board an MV-22 crashed in San Diego during a training trip in August 2022.
After one marine was killed and 21 were injured in a crash at a military facility in Hawaii in 2015, the Defense Department maintained its use of the jet.
According to the Air Force, it is primarily utilized “to conduct long-range infiltration, exfiltration, and resupply missions for special operations forces.”
