US Military Aircraft Crashes Off Japan Island

A United States (US) military aircraft with eight personnel on board has crashed off the coast of Japan.

Local media quoted officials who said the remains of the CV-22 OSPREY have likely been found off Yakushima Island.

Japanese broadcaster NHK said the osprey was trying to land at Yakushima Airport.

The plane’s left engine was on fire, it added.

It was thought to be heading from Yokota Air Base in Tokyo to Kadena Base in Okinawa.

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Yakushima, in Kagoshima prefecture, is located south of Japan’s Kyushu Island.

The coastguard said it has mobilized patrol ships and aircraft around Yakushima, which lies south of Japan’s southernmost main island of Kyushu.

Japanese broadcaster NHK reported that the Osprey was on its way from the Iwakuni US base near Hiroshima in the Yamaguchi region headed for the Kadena base further south in Okinawa.

NHK also cited defense ministry sources as saying that the aircraft was a CV-22 Osprey belonging to the US Yokota air base in Tokyo.

Government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno said Japan was “aware of information that the US military’s Osprey fell out of radar (contact)” near Yakushima Island.

The government is confirming the extent of damage and will prioritize saving human lives, Matsuno told reporters.

The US embassy in Japan was not immediately able to comment. The US military says it has about 54,000 personnel in Japan.