A MAJOR search is underway after two Japanese navy helicopters are believed to have collided over the weekend, killing one and leaving seven missing.
The SH-60K helicopters, each with four crew on board, lost contact late on Saturday while conducting submarine location drills off the Izu Islands in the Pacific Ocean.
APA Japanese warship searches for the wreckage[/caption]
APJapan believes they have found parts of the destroyed choppers[/caption]
AFPA SH-60K Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force helicopter landing on an aircraft carrier (file picture)[/caption]
Ten ships and five aircraft from the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force were combing the waters, aided by others from the Air Self-Defense Force and the coastguard, a navy duty official said.
“We have a 24-hour operation for the search, which took place all day and all night,” the navy officer said.
A crew member who was recovered early Sunday from the water was later pronounced dead.
Other debris and flight recorder were also quickly found, but there has been no trace of the seven missing crew.
“It is a matter of the utmost regret that we lost our important personnel as they engaged in a very tough, late-night training which was conducted in order to fullfil their duties,” Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told a televised legislative committee session on Monday.
Defence Minister Minoru Kihara said that there was so far no information from the flight recorders to suggest any technical problems with the aircraft.
Navy chief of staff Ryo Sakai cancelled a planned visit to China, where he was to attend the Western Pacific Naval Symposium.
Communication with one of the helicopters was lost at 10:38 pm Saturday off the island of Torishima, and one minute later an emergency signal was received from this aircraft, broadcaster NHK reported.
Around 11:04 pm, the military realised that communication with the other aircraft was also lost in the same area.
Last April a Japanese army UH-60JA helicopter with 10 people on board crashed off Miyako island in southern Okinawa. There were no survivors.
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APAnother part of the wreckage found in the Pacific[/caption]
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