TOKYO – Two Japanese navy helicopters carrying eight crew members crashed into the Pacific Ocean south of Tokyo during a nighttime training flight, after possibly colliding with each other, the country’s defense minister said on Sunday. One crew member who was recovered from the waters was later pronounced dead, while rescuers were searching for seven others who were still missing.
The Maritime Self-Defense Force’s two SH-60K helicopters were carrying four crew members each and lost contact on Saturday night near the island of Torishima, about 600 kilometers (370 miles) south of Tokyo, Defense Minister Minoru Kihara said. to reporters.
The cause of the crash was not immediately known, but the two helicopters may have collided with each other before falling into the water, Kihara said.
Rescuers recovered a flight data recorder, a blade from each helicopter and fragments believed to be from both helicopters in the same area, signs that the two SH-60Ks were flying close to each other, Kihara said. Authorities will analyze flight data to try to determine what led to the crash.
The MSDF sent eight warships and five aircraft to search and rescue the missing crew.
The helicopters, twin-engine multi-mission aircraft developed by Sikorsky and known as Seahawks, were modified and produced in Japan by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. They were undergoing nighttime anti-submarine training in the waters, Kihara said. One lost contact at 10:38 pm (1:38 pm GMT) and sent an automatic emergency signal a minute later.
Only a distress call was heard — another sign that the two helicopters were near the same location, because their signals use the same frequency and cannot be differentiated, Kihara said.
One belonged to an air base in Nagasaki and the other to a base in Tokushima Prefecture.
The SH-60K aircraft is generally deployed on destroyers for anti-submarine warfare, but is also used for search and rescue and other missions. Japan has about 70 modified helicopters produced under license by MHI.
Saturday’s training involved only the Japanese navy and was not part of a multinational exercise, defense officials said. They said no foreign aircraft or warships were sighted in the area.
Japan, as part of its 2022 security strategy, has accelerated its military buildup and strengthened deterrence in Japan’s southwestern islands in the Pacific and East China Sea to counter threats from China’s increasingly assertive military activities. In recent years, Japan has conducted its own extensive naval exercises, as well as joint exercises with its ally the United States and other partners.
Saturday’s accident comes a year after a Ground Self-Defense Force UH-60 Blackhawk crashed on Miyako Island in southwestern Japan due to an engine power problem known as “rollback,” leaving all 10 crew members dead. , which shocked the nation. In January 2022, an F-15 air self-defense fighter crashed off the north-central coast of Japan, killing two crew members.
In 2017, a Japanese Navy SH-60J, a previous generation Seahawk, crashed during night flight training off Aomori due to human error. In the US, the fatal crash of an MH-60S Seahawk during training in California in 2021 was attributed to a mechanical failure caused by unsuspected damage during maintenance, according to the Navy.
Japan’s NHK public television said no weather warning was issued in the area at the time of Saturday’s accident.
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