The SH-60K helicopter of the Maritime Self-Defense Force that went missing after a crash. (From the Maritime Self-Defense Force website)
17:47 JST, April 24, 2024
Tokyo, April 23 (Jiji Press) — Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force on Tuesday released the names of eight crew members aboard two MSDF patrol helicopters that crashed off a remote island in Tokyo during a night exercise on Saturday.
The MSDF said it has identified a crew member whose body was recovered from the crash site as Cmdr. Yuki Nishihata, co-pilot of one of the two SH-60K helicopters.
The MSDF also released the names of the seven other crew members who are still missing.
“It is extremely unfortunate that we have lost one member and are missing seven other members who participated in the training with extremely high skills,” Admiral Ryo Sakai, MSDF chief of staff, told a news conference. “We will continue to do our best in the search operations,” he added.
One helicopter belongs to the MSDF’s Omura Air Base in southwestern Nagasaki Prefecture and the other is based at the MSDF’s Komatsushima Air Base in western Tokushima Prefecture.
The MSDF believes that the two helicopters most likely collided in mid-air and crashed, based on the fact that they disappeared during night training to detect submarines and that their flight recorders were found in close proximity.
Sakai said the training was more advanced than a normal exercise. “It was closer to actual combat and involved complex operations such as cooperation between participating helicopters and ships,” he said.
The aircraft is believed to have sunk to the seabed at a depth of approximately 5,500 meters, and the MSDF is sending an oceanographic vessel that can survey the topography of the seabed to the location.
