2024-04-21 05:08:00
(CNN) — One of the rescued crew members died and seven others are missing following two Japanese military helicopters apparently crashed during a training exercise, Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara said on Sunday.
“It is very unfortunate that the situation has reached this point,” Kihara told reporters. “As for the other seven people, we are doing everything we can to search and rescue them.”
According to the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF), two of its helicopters, each with four crew members on board, crashed during an exercise in the Pacific Ocean on Saturday evening.
Kihara said on Sunday that “there is a high probability of a collision” and that the black boxes of the two Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF) helicopters had been found and retrieved from the area.
– What is believed to be part of the plane in the sea has been confirmed, and it is believed that the two planes crashed, Kihara said on Sunday. – The cause is currently unknown, but we will do everything we can to save lives first.
The US government has offered to help with the search and rescue operation, US Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel said in a post on formerly Twitter.
“We will be together, side by side, with our friend and ally, Japan. My thoughts go out to the crew members, their families and friends at this difficult time,” he added.
Communication with one of the helicopters was lost at 10:38 p.m. local time on Saturday off Japan’s Izu Islands, an archipelago that stretches south into the Pacific Ocean.
At 23.04, communication with the other aircraft in the same area was also lost, according to the JMSDF.
The SH-60K helicopters are stationed and operated mainly from destroyers, and the two aircraft were conducting night training to search for submarines, according to the JMSDF.
Earlier this month, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told CNN that his country is increasing its defense spending and changing its security policy, following years of pacifism, due to rising geopolitical tensions and increasing challenges from international security.
From Tokyo, CNN’s Junko Ogura and Sophie Jeong from Hong Kong.
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