A US V-22 Osprey military aircraft crashed near an island in western Japan on Wednesday with eight people on board, Japan’s coast guard said.
Eyewitnesses report that patrol boats and aircraft have been dispatched to the crash site off Japan’s Yakushima Island. Coast Guard officials are not releasing any details about the incident, including the condition of those on board. A spokesman for US forces in the region said they were still gathering information about the incident.
The plane disappeared from radar at 2:40 p.m. local time, Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said. The plane crashed at about 2:47 p.m. local time (0547 GMT) near the island’s airport. On descent, the plane’s left engine appeared to catch fire, Japanese media reported, citing local authorities.
In August, a US Osprey plane crashed off the coast of northern Australia while transporting troops during a routine military exercise, killing three US Marines. Another aircraft crashed into the ocean off the southern Japanese island of Okinawa in December 2016, forcing the US military to temporarily ground it.
The Osprey is a highly flexible aircraft that is can take off vertically like a helicopter but also carry out high speed cruising of a more conventional turboprop plane with wings.
The US Marine Corps, the US Navy and the Japan Self-Defence Force operate the rotary – wing aircraft, which can fly as a helicopter and as a fixed-wing aircraft. Japan’s deployment of the Osprey has sparked controversy, with critics claiming the hybrid aircraft is prone to accidents. The US military and Japan claim it is safe.
