Two Japan Self-Defense Force (JSF) helicopters crashed into the sea late Saturday evening. A crew member was found dead and seven others are still missing, Japanese authorities announced on Sunday April 21. According to them, the helicopters crashed off the coast of the Izu Islands in the Pacific Ocean.
The aircraft were participating in a “nighttime anti-submarine warfare exercise,” Defense Minister Minoru Kihara told the press. “For the moment the cause [of the accident] is unknown, for the moment we are giving priority to saving lives. » Probable debris from these devices was spotted by sea rescue services, added the minister.
Hours later, Mr. Kihara told reporters that the death of the rescued crew member “has been confirmed.” Seven other people are still missing. He also said that the ministry had “discovered the flight recorders in close proximity to each other,” and that it was therefore “highly possible that [the two helicopters] collided.”
“The flight recorders are being analyzed and authorities are questioning the crew of a third helicopter which participated in the exercise but was not involved in the accident,” the head of state said. Navy Major Ryo Sakai.
A previous fatal accident
Communication with one of the devices was lost at 10:38 p.m. local time (3:38 p.m. BST) on Saturday. Some twenty-five minutes later, authorities realized that communication with the second helicopter had also been lost, according to public broadcaster NHK. These were two Mitsubishi SH-60Ks, Japanese-made patrol helicopters belonging to the Maritime Self-Defense Force, the naval branch of the FJA.
A year earlier, a Japanese military helicopter of another model (UH-60JA) crashed into the sea in the Okinawa area (southwest of Japan), killing its ten occupants. And in November, an Osprey from the American military forces based in Japan crashed at sea, causing the death of its eight crew members.
Japan, a close ally of the United States, is considerably increasing its defense budget to adapt to growing tensions in the Asia-Pacific, between China’s increasingly assertive territorial claims and repeated threats from North Korea. In the region.
