The body of one crew member has been recovered from the sea following the crash of a U.S. military Osprey off the coast of southern Japan Nov. 28, 2023.
Japanese Coast Guard spokesperson Kazuo Ogawa said the status of the five other crewmembers is not known at this time.
An emergency call from a fishing boat near the crash site alerted the local coast guard who began a search using aircraft and patrol boats.
Ogawa said the deceased, debris believed to be from the aircraft, and an empty inflatable life raft were found in the area about one kilometer (0.6 mile) off the eastern coast of Yakushima.
The Kyodo News agency reports that the Japanese Defense Ministry says the Osprey that crashed was assigned to the U.S. Air Force’s Yokota Air Base, and that it disappeared from radar at about 2:40 p.m. local time.
The C-22 Osprey is a tiltrotor aircraft that combines the vertical takeoff, hover and vertical landing qualities of a helicopter with the long-range, fuel efficiency and speed characteristics of a turboprop aircraft. The U.S. Air Force, U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy all fly variations of the Osprey, and the only international customer is the Japan Self-Defense Force.
This is story will be updated as more information becomes available.
