A US Osprey military aircraft crashed off the coast of Japan on Wednesday,as reported by the coastguard. The incident involved a vehicle carryingeight crew members, and the coastguard received this information at 2:47 pm(0547 GMT) on the same day.
A spokesperson for the coastguard shared these details with AFP, confirmingthe crash occurred near Yakushima Island. However, as of now, there is noadditional information available regarding the incident.
Yakushima Island is located to the south of Japan’s southernmost mainisland, Kyushu. According to Japanese broadcaster NHK, the crashed Ospreytook off from the Iwakuni US base in the Yamaguchi region and was en routeto the Kadena base in Okinawa. Additionally, NHK, citing defense ministrysources, identified the aircraft as a CV-22 Osprey affiliated with the USYokota air base in Tokyo.
The CV-22 Osprey, a tilt-rotor aircraft, has faced challenges throughoutits operational history, marked by several fatal crashes.
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Notably, in August of the same year, a crash in northern Australia resultedin the loss of three US marines among the 23 individuals on board. TheOsprey’s safety record has raised concerns and garnered attention due tothese incidents.