TOKYO: Japan has urged the United States to confirm the safety of its Osprey military aircraft, Defense Minister Minoru Kihara said Thursday after one of the planes crashed into the sea, killing at least one person on board.
“There is a lot of concern among the people of the area due to such an accident,” Kihara said in parliament.
“And we are requesting the U.S. side to conduct Osprey flights deployed to Japan once these flights are confirmed to be safe.”
Japan’s Ground Self-Defense Force, which has a V-22 Osprey fleet, will suspend its Osprey flights for the time being, senior Defense Ministry official Taro Yamato told a parliamentary hearing.
A Japan-based American Osprey military transport plane crashed into the water off the country’s southwestern island of Yakushima on Wednesday.
According to the Japan Coast Guard, an unconscious man was found at sea and later declared dead.
Coast Guard spokesman Kazuo Ogawa said the cause of the accident and the condition of the seven other people aboard were not immediately known.
The Japan Coast Guard and others are continuing search and rescue operations.
The US Air Force said the CV-22 tilt-rotor transport plane with eight airmen on board “crashed” during routine training.
The Japan Coast Guard initially said there were eight crew aboard the crashed Osprey, before reducing the number to six and then to eight.
