US military aircraft with 8 aboard crashes into sea off Japan

A U.S. V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft, with 8 people on board, has crashed off the coast of Yakushima island in Kagoshima Prefecture, according to the Japan Coast Guard on Wednesday morning.

According to the 10th Regional Coast Guard Headquarters, the emergency call about the incident was received around 2.45PM LT.

A patrol boat and aircraft were dispatched to carry out a search and rescue operation. At the moment, the status of the crew members is unknown although debris from an aircraft has been found, the Japan Times reported

According to the few details that emerged so far, the Osprey may have crashed some 2 to 4 kilometers away from an airport in Yakushima.

The Yakushima airport office in Kagoshima Prefecture said the Osprey may have crashed in an area about 2 to 4 kilometers away from the airport.

This is just the latest of a series of incidents and mishaps involving the V-22 (MV-22 and CV-22 variants, respectively operated by the U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. Air Force) in the U.S. and abroad. The most recent one before then one in Japan occurred in Australia, on Aug. 27, 2023, when a USMC MV-22B crash landed during a joint exercise. The aircraft was carrying 23 U.S. Marines, three of whom were killed.