Japanese army helicopter crashes in sea with 10 on board

Tokyo
CNN
 — 

Rescuers are scanning waters off southern Japan for 10 individuals on board a Japanese army helicopter that apparently crashed into the ocean on Thursday, Protection Minister Yasukazu Hamada stated.

“I’ll proceed to do my greatest to gather info on the harm and seek for human lives,” stated Hamada, who seemed visibly overcome with emotion when he spoke to reporters Friday.

Gen. Yasunori Morishita, chief of workers of Japan’s Floor Self-Protection Power (GSDF), stated searchers had discovered what gave the impression to be elements of the the UH-60JA helicopter within the sea and are persevering with to scan the ocean for survivors.

If no survivors are discovered, the crash could be Japan’s deadliest army aviation accident since 1995, in response to a database maintained by the Aviation Security Community.

The lacking troops embrace two pilots, two mechanics and 6 passengers, amongst them Lt. Gen. Yuichi Sakamoto, a senior GSDF commander, Morishita stated.

Sakamoto, commander of the eighth Division, had been newly appointed to his position on March 30, Japan’s public broadcaster NHK reported Friday.

The helicopter – which was surveying the native space – went lacking Thursday at 3:56 p.m. native time after disappearing from radar screens off the coast of Miyako Island within the southern Japanese prefecture of Okinawa, in response to the Protection Ministry.

Miyako Island – adjoining to the East China Sea – is about 400 kilometers (250 miles) east of Taiwan and is house to a JGSDF missile unit.

A spokesperson from the Japan Coast Guard instructed CNN that round 6:50 p.m. native time on Thursday, a patrol boat retrieved a lifeboat with the phrases “Floor Self-Protection Power” written on it from the ocean.

The spokesperson added that early Friday morning, a window body, a door with “Floor Self-Protection Power” written on it and a rotor blade have been recovered in waters north of Irabu Island, which is related to Miyako Island by a bridge. 

In line with producer Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the UH-60JA is a multipurpose helicopter primarily based on the US army’s Black Hawk helicopters.

The final time not less than 10 individuals have been misplaced in a Japanese army aviation accident was on February 21, 1995, when a Maritime Self-Protection Power flying boat crashed on Okinawa, in response to the Aviation Security Community database.

On April 26, 1983, 11 individuals have been killed when a flying boat crashed throughout apply for an air present in Iwakuni, and 14 died per week earlier when two Air Self-Protection Power transports flying in formation crashed into an island in Ise Bay, in response to the database.