U.S. Military Osprey Aircraft Crashes off Southern Japan; One Person Found Alive

Japan’s coast guard has reported that a U.S. military Osprey aircraft, carrying eight people, crashed off the southern coast of Japan. Officials have confirmed that they found one person and debris in the ocean near the crash site, but the cause of the crash and the status of the others on board are not immediately known.

The coast guard received an emergency call from a fishing boat near the crash site off Yakushima, an island located south of Kagoshima on the southern main island of Kyushu. Coast guard aircraft and patrol boats were dispatched to the area and discovered one person. The condition of this individual has not yet been disclosed. Additionally, gray-colored debris believed to be from the aircraft was located at sea, approximately 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) off the eastern coast of Yakushima.

Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno stated, “The government will confirm information about the damage and place the highest priority on saving lives.”

The U.S. military Osprey is a hybrid aircraft capable of taking off and landing like a helicopter but transitioning to faster airplane-like flight during flight by rotating its propellers forward. Various versions of the Osprey are operated by the U.S. Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force.

According to the coast guard spokesperson, Kazuo Ogawa, the aircraft had departed from the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni in Yamaguchi prefecture and was en route to Kadena Air Base on Okinawa. It appears that the Osprey attempted to make an emergency landing at Yakushima airport before crashing.

Witnesses in the area reported seeing fire coming from the Osprey’s left engine, according to Kyodo News agency, which cited Kagoshima prefectural officials.

The U.S. military confirmed that the aircraft belonged to Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo, although U.S. Air Force officials at Yokota are still in the process of confirming details and have not provided immediate comments on the incident.

This incident follows a U.S. Marine Corps Osprey aircraft crash on a north Australian island in August, during a multinational training exercise, which resulted in at least three fatalities and critical injuries to at least five individuals. Over the years, there have been several fatal crashes involving Marine Ospreys, totaling at least 19 deaths since 2012.

Sources: AirGuide Business airguide.info, bing.com, yahoo.com