Search for 3 missing from U.S. Navy plane crash continues

American, Japanese naval vessels, aircraft scouring the Philippine Sea

HONG KONG — A search at sea was continuing for three people who were missing after the crash of a U.S. Navy aircraft near Okinawa, Japan, the Navy said Thursday.

Eight of the 11 passengers and crew members aboard a C2-A Greyhound propeller cargo plane were rescued after the crash Wednesday and were in good condition, the 7th Fleet said.

The crash was the fifth accident this year for the fleet, which has its headquarters in Japan and is the Navy’s largest fleet overseas.

The accidents, including a pair of deadly collisions, led the Navy to relieve the head of the 7th Fleet of his command in August.

The plane crashed in the Philippine Sea about 500 nautical miles southeast of Okinawa around 2:45 p.m. Wednesday while en route to the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan, the 7th Fleet said in a statement.

The C2-A Greyhound is a model that has been in use for decades to ferry personnel and supplies to and from aircraft carriers at sea.

The plane was flying from Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni to the Ronald Reagan, which was conducting a training exercise with the Japanese navy.

The Navy said three U.S. guided-missile destroyers, two Japanese helicopter carriers and three Japanese destroyers were searching the area.

Ships and aircraft had covered 320 nautical miles by Thursday morning, the 7th Fleet said.

It said that the names of the missing had not been released, but that their families had been notified.

The fleet has faced a string of deadly accidents this year. Among them, the destroyer USS Fitzgerald collided in June with a Philippine container ship south of Tokyo.

Seven of the USS Fitzgerald’s crew were killed and several were injured, including the ship’s commanding officer, Cmdr. Bryce Benson.

In August, 10 sailors were killed when the destroyer USS John S. McCain collided with an oil tanker near Singapore. The top two officers of the destroyer were relieved of duty in October.

The head of the 7th Fleet, Vice Adm. Joseph P. Aucoin, was removed in August because of the accidents. A Navy investigation found that the deadly collisions had been the result of basic errors that were “avoidable.”