TOKYO, April 7 (Xinhua) — A Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) helicopter carrying 10 folks, together with a lieutenant common, went lacking on Thursday afternoon in waters off the southwestern prefecture of Okinawa, with what may very well be components of the chopper later discovered within the sea.
General Yasunori Morishita, chief of workers of the GSDF, advised a press convention Thursday night that the UH-60JA multipurpose chopper which belongs to a unit below the GSDF’s eighth Division based mostly in Kumamoto Prefecture is believed to have been caught up in an plane accident.
Two pilots, two mechanics, and 6 crew have been on board and all have been Self-Defense Force members, whose whereabouts nonetheless stay unknown, together with Lieutenant General Yuichi Sakamoto, the 55-year-old head of the division, Morishita confirmed.
Oil and objects together with what may very well be a part of a rotor blade have been discovered within the sea space the place the accident is believed to have occurred, in accordance with the Japan Coast Guard who dispatched patrol ships to close by waters in seek for the helicopter.
A lifeboat printed with GSDF indicators was additionally present in a folded state, carrying nobody on it, it added.
The GSDF is attempting to verify whether or not the objects are from the lacking helicopter.
“We are putting maximum priority on human life and rescue operations,” Prime Minister Fumio Kishida advised reporters in Tokyo on Thursday.
The helicopter disappeared from radar at round 4:00 p.m. native time Thursday close to Okinawa’s Miyakojima Island, shortly after taking off from the island to surveil close by land options, in accordance with the GSDF.
Rough climate situations weren’t reported across the time the helicopter went lacking.