Five bodies found from US Osprey crash in Japan, Kyodo News says
Five bodies and the bulk of the wreckage are thought to have been located under water after a U.S. military Osprey aircraft crashed in southwestern Japan last week, Kyodo News reported, citing a source close to the matter.
The CV-22 Osprey operated by the U.S.
Air Force plunged into the sea off the island of Yakushima on Wednesday with eight people aboard. The body of one victim was found the same day, and he was later identified by the Air Force as Staff Sergeant Jacob Galliher, 24.
Tokyo has called for U.S. Forces in Japan to suspend the use of the Osprey, which has been involved in several fatal crashes, until checks can be made. The U.S. side appears to have effectively rejected the request, in a step that could worsen often difficult ties between U.S. forces and the local communities that host them.
Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno declined to comment on the Kyodo report, adding that the search was ongoing. USFJ did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
According to a statement issued earlier by Japan’s Ministry of Defense, the U.S. has six CV-22 Ospreys at Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo and 24 MV-22 Ospreys at Marine Corps Air Station Futenma on the southern island of Okinawa. The U.S. continued to operate Ospreys on the island after the Japanese government request on Nov. 30, the ministry said.
Pentagon deputy spokeswoman Sabrina Singh released a statement Friday saying Osprey flights have been suspended in the Air Force unit that flew the crashed plane. She said the tilt-rotor aircraft in Japan operate “only after undergoing thorough maintenance and safety checks.”
In August, three U.S. Marines were killed and five others critically injured after a V-22 Osprey went down while performing drills off the coast of Darwin in Australia’s Northern Territory. Prior incidents with the V-22 Osprey included a crash in 2000 that killed 19 Marines in Arizona. The accident was blamed on pilot error.