Rescue teams search for missing US marines after Japan air crash
One US Marine was killed and rescue teams are searching for five others after two Marine Corps aircraft collided and crashed off the coast of Japan during an air-to-air refueling exercise yesterday.
Earlier, Japanese and American officials said they had found two of the seven Marines who had been aboard the aircraft, an F/A-18 Hornet fighter jet and a KC-130 Hercules.
“One of the recovered Marines is in fair condition and the other has been declared deceased,” a US Marine Corps statement said.
Search-and-rescue efforts for the remaining five continued, Japan’s highest-ranking military officer said.
“We plan to keep at it all through the night,” Katsutoshi Kawano, chief of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces’ Joint Staff said.
The incident adds to a growing list of US military aviation accidents around the world in recent years, prompting hearings in Congress to address the rise.
The Military Times reported earlier this year that aviation accidents jumped nearly 40 percent from fiscal years 2013 to 2017.
At least 133 service members were killed in those incidents, it said.
Congressional leaders have called the rash of accidents a “crisis” and blamed it on continuous combat operations, deferred modernization, lack of training and aging equipment.
US military accidents are a sensitive topic in Japan, particularly for residents of the southern prefecture of Okinawa, which is home to the bulk of the US presence in the country.
A series of emergency landings and parts falling from US military aircraft have highlighted safety concerns.
“The incident is regrettable, but our focus at the moment is on search and rescue,” Japanese Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya said. “Japan will respond appropriately once the details of the incident are uncovered.”
US Ambassador William Hagerty thanked Japan’s military for their search-and-rescue efforts and confirmed the incident occurred during a refueling exercise.
“My heart goes out to the families and colleagues of Marines involved in this tragedy,” Hagerty said at an event at Waseda University in Tokyo.
“They risk their lives every day to protect Japan and to protect this region and sometimes they pay the greatest costs.
“So I want to emphasise this security alliance that we have is critical and that it is moving forward to the right direction.”
The Marine Corps said the incident occurred around 2am local time about 320km off the Japanese coast.
The two aircraft had launched from Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni and were conducting regular training when the incident occurred.
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