Kyodo/Reuters
A Japanese Coast Guard ship and helicopter conduct a search and rescue operation at the site where the US military plane MV-22 Osprey crashed into the sea off Yakushima Island, Kagoshima Prefecture, western Japan on November 29, 2023, in this photo taken by Kyodo.
Tokyo
CNN
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At least one person was killed on Wednesday after a US military Osprey plane crashed off the coast of the Japanese island of Yakushima in the southern Kagoshima Prefecture, according to a Japanese Coast Guard spokesman.
The Coast Guard said six people were on board the plane. Earlier, officials said that eight people were on board the plane.
The spokesman added that there is no other information available about the other individuals on board the plane and the cause behind the accident.
The Coast Guard received information about the accident at around 2:47 p.m. local time (12:47 a.m. ET), the spokesman said, adding that the 10th Regional Headquarters of the Coast Guard sent a patrol boat and an aircraft to the crash area.
The US Army said, according to the Japanese Deputy Defense Minister, that the Osprey military plane made an “emergency landing on the water.”
An official in Kagoshima Prefecture told CNN that the Yakushima Airport Administration Office in Kagoshima Prefecture received a phone call from the US military on Wednesday afternoon requesting an emergency landing at Kagoshima Airport.
The Kagoshima Prefectural official did not specify whether the request came from the US Marine Corps or the Air Force.
Japan’s Okinawa Prefectural government asked the US military stationed on the island chain to ground all Osprey aircraft after the accident.
“Given the concerns about the Osprey threat, where such an unexpected incident has become a reality, the only thing I can say is that I feel very sorry about it,” Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki told reporters at a news conference on Wednesday.
This is the latest An Osprey military plane crasheswith numerous reported incidents over the years.
In August of this year, three US Marines were killed and several others were seriously injured after an Osprey plane crashed during military exercises in Australia.
In 2022, Five US Marines They died after their MV-22B Osprey crashed during a training mission near Glamis, California. That same year, four U.S. service members were killed when their Osprey plane crashed during NATO training exercises in Norway.
The Osprey is a very agile aircraft that can take off vertically like a helicopter, but also cruise at high speed like a more traditional turboprop aircraft with wings.
Overall, the Ospreys are safe to fly, but the plane has had a history of mechanical and operational problems, dating back to its inception in the 1980s, according to CNN military analyst and retired US Air Force Colonel Cedric Layton.
This story is broken and will be updated.
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