Ten people are killed when a Japanese military chopper falls into the water

Rescuers are searching waters off southern Japan for 10 people on board a Japanese military helicopter that crashed into the sea on Thursday. The missing include two pilots, two mechanics and six passengers, including Lt. Gen. Yuichi Sakamoto, a senior GSDF commander. The helicopter went missing at 3:56 p.m. local time after disappearing from radar screens off the coast of Miyako Island in the southern Japanese prefecture of Okinawa. A patrol boat retrieved a lifeboat with the words “Ground Self-Defense Force” written on it from the sea, and a window frame, a door with “Ground Self-Defense Force” written on it and a rotor blade were recovered in waters north of Irabu Island.

The last time at least 10 people were lost in a Japanese military aviation accident was on February 21, 1995, when a Maritime Self-Defense Force flying boat crashed in Kochi prefecture, southern Japan, killing 11 people. In February 1984, 12 died when a flying boat crashed in waters off the west coast of Ao Island in Ehime prefecture.