In a tragic incident, a US Osprey military aircraft crashed on Wednesday off the coast of Japan, according to the Japanese coastguard. The spokeswoman for the coastguard reported that they received information at 2:47 pm (0547 GMT) about the crash off Yakushima Island, located south of Japan’s southernmost main island Kyushu. The aircraft was reported to have eight crew members on board, and as of now, there is no further information available.
Japanese broadcaster NHK revealed that the Osprey departed from the Iwakuni US base in the Yamaguchi region and was headed for the Kadena base in Okinawa. Defense ministry sources cited by NHK identified the aircraft as a CV-22 Osprey belonging to the US Yokota air base in Tokyo.
The Osprey, a tilt-rotor aircraft, has a troubled history, with a series of fatal crashes over the years. In August, a crash in northern Australia killed three US marines among the 23 on board. Another incident occurred in Norway last year, resulting in the death of four US Marines during NATO training exercises. In 2017, three Marines lost their lives when an Osprey crashed after clipping the back of a transport ship off Australia’s north coast.
The recent crash adds to a string of accidents involving US military aircraft. Notably, this month, five US service members were killed when a helicopter crashed into the Mediterranean during a training exercise. In September, an F-35 stealth warplane went down in South Carolina, with the pilot able to eject. Additionally, in April, three US soldiers lost their lives in Alaska when two helicopters collided during a training mission, and the previous month, nine soldiers died in Kentucky when two US Army helicopters crashed during a nighttime training mission.
Officials have not specified the origin of the crashed aircraft. It’s important to note that the United States has deployed a carrier strike group to the Mediterranean as part of efforts to prevent the Israel-Hamas conflict from escalating into a regional conflict. The investigation into the latest Osprey crash is ongoing, and authorities are working to gather more details surrounding the tragic incident.