1 dead, 7 missing as 2 Japanese Navy helicopters carrying 8 crew members crash into Pacific Ocean

TOKYO (AP) — Two Japanese navy helicopters carrying eight crew members crashed into the Pacific Ocean south of Tokyo during a nighttime training exercise, and rescue teams were searching for the missing, Japan’s defense ministry said. The minister said.

Defense Minister Minoru Kihara told reporters that two SH-60K helicopters of the Maritime Self-Defense Force, each carrying four crew, made contact late Saturday near Torishima Island in the Pacific Ocean, about 600 kilometers (370 miles) south of Tokyo. Got lost.

One of the eight crew members was recovered from the water, but his condition was unknown. Authorities were still searching for the other seven.

Kihara said the cause of the accident was not immediately known, adding that officials were giving priority to rescue operations.

MSDF deployed eight warships and five aircraft to search and rescue the missing crew. Kihara said they recovered fragments that probably belonged to one of the SH-60Ks.
“We believe the helicopters have crashed,” he said.

Kihara said the twin-engine multi-mission aircraft designed by Sikorsky and known as Seahawk were on anti-submarine training in the waters at night. One lost contact at 10:38 pm (1338 GMT) after sending an emergency signal. After about 25 minutes, contact with the second plane was lost. One belonged to an air base in Nagasaki, and the other to a base in Tokushima Prefecture.

SH-60K aircraft are commonly deployed on destroyers for anti-submarine missions.

Defense officials said Saturday’s training involved only the Japanese Navy and was not part of any multinational exercise. He said no foreign aircraft or warships were seen in the area.

Japan, under its 2022 Security Strategy, is accelerating its military buildup and strengthening deterrence in the southwestern Japanese islands in the Pacific and the East China Sea to counter threats from China’s increasingly aggressive military activities. In recent years Japan has conducted large-scale naval exercises of its own, as well as joint exercises with its ally the United States and other partners.

Saturday’s apparent crash comes a year after a Ground Self-Defense Force UH-60 Blackhawk crashed near the southwestern Japanese island of Miyako, killing all 10 crew members. In January 2022, an Air Self-Defense F-15 fighter jet crashed off the north-central coast of Japan, killing the two crew.

Japan’s NHK public television said no weather advisories had been issued in the area at the time of Saturday’s crash.