Authorities have not yet made any public assessment of the cause of the helicopter’s disappearance during a reconnaissance mission.
Japan’s Defense Ministry said today that it is determined to find the 10 people on board a military helicopter that disappeared yesterday near an island in the southern part of the country.
Two pilots, two engineers and six crew members were on board the Japanese ground forces’ UH-60JA when it disappeared shortly before 4:00 p.m. (local time; 10:00 a.m. Greek time), near Miyako Island, Okinawa Prefecture.
The Japanese coast guard has located several pieces of debris believed to be from the helicopter, including a door, a wing section and a lifeboat still in its wrapping.
“We have been conducting search and rescue operations in the area throughout the night, but we have not yet found General (Yuichi) Sakamoto of the 8th Army Division, nor the other nine on board,” Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada said, visibly emotional.
“We will do everything (…) to find the ten missing people,” he added.
The authorities have not yet made any public assessment of the reasons for the disappearance of the helicopter during a reconnaissance mission.
In the past, Japan has experienced serious air accidents, most notably the January 2022 crash into the sea in the central part of the country of an F-15 fighter, whose two pilots were killed.
In 2019, an F-35A fighter also crashed into the sea in the northeastern part of the archipelago. Searches to find the pilot’s body and the aircraft’s carcass, which is full of technological secrets, were eventually abandoned.
The Ministry of Defense then assessed that the pilot who was lost in the crash had probably suffered disorientation.
Source :Skai
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