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Japan asks US military to ground Osprey aircraft after fatal crash
Asia Pacific
Japan asks US military to ground Osprey aircraft after fatal crash
By Kantaro Komiya and Tim Kelly
November 30, 20236:23 AM EST • Updated 3 hours ago
TOKYO, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Japan said it has asked the U.S. to suspend all non-emergency V-22 Osprey flights over its territory after one fell into the sea on Wednesday in western Japan, marking the country's first fatal U.S. military plane crash in five years. ... The U.S. Air Force said the cause of the mishap during a routine training mission, which killed at least one person, is currently unknown. Search and rescue operations to find the remaining seven crew are still ongoing.
"The occurrence of such an accident causes great anxiety to the people of the region... and we are requesting the U.S. side to conduct flights of Ospreys deployed in Japan after these flights are confirmed to be safe," Japan defence minister Minoru Kihara said in parliament on Thursday. ... The Japan Self-Defense Forces (SDF), which also operates Ospreys, will suspend flights of the transport aircraft until the circumstances of the incident are clarified, another defence ministry official said.
Speaking to reporters later in the evening, Kihara confirmed reports that the U.S. military was still operating its Ospreys, saying that Japan's regional defence bureau had counted 20 landings and takeoffs of Ospreys around U.S. bases by 3:30 p.m. on Thursday. ... A spokesperson for U.S. military forces in Japan did not immediately respond to a request for comment. ... "Our focus is on the ongoing search and rescue operations, and we're praying for a safe return," Rahm Emanuel, the U.S. ambassador to Japan, said in a post on X.
Witnesses said the aircraft's left engine appeared to be on fire as it approached an airport for an emergency landing in clear weather and light winds, media reported.
{snip}
Reporting by Chang-Ran Kim, Kantaro Komiya, Tim Kelly, and Sakura Murakami; Writing by John Geddie; Editing by Kim Coghill, Gerry Doyle and Bernadette Baum
Kantaro Komiya
Thomson Reuters
Kantaro.Komiya@thomsonreuters.com
https://twitter.com/kantarokomiya
Kantaro writes about everything from Japan's economic indicators to North Korea's missiles to global regulation on AI companies. His previous stories have been published in the Associated Press, Bloomberg, the Japan Times and Rest of World. A Tokyo native, Kantaro graduated from DePauw University in the United States and was the recipient of the Overseas Press Club Foundation 2020 Scholar Award.
Japan asks US military to ground Osprey aircraft after fatal crash
By Kantaro Komiya and Tim Kelly
November 30, 20236:23 AM EST • Updated 3 hours ago
TOKYO, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Japan said it has asked the U.S. to suspend all non-emergency V-22 Osprey flights over its territory after one fell into the sea on Wednesday in western Japan, marking the country's first fatal U.S. military plane crash in five years. ... The U.S. Air Force said the cause of the mishap during a routine training mission, which killed at least one person, is currently unknown. Search and rescue operations to find the remaining seven crew are still ongoing.
"The occurrence of such an accident causes great anxiety to the people of the region... and we are requesting the U.S. side to conduct flights of Ospreys deployed in Japan after these flights are confirmed to be safe," Japan defence minister Minoru Kihara said in parliament on Thursday. ... The Japan Self-Defense Forces (SDF), which also operates Ospreys, will suspend flights of the transport aircraft until the circumstances of the incident are clarified, another defence ministry official said.
Speaking to reporters later in the evening, Kihara confirmed reports that the U.S. military was still operating its Ospreys, saying that Japan's regional defence bureau had counted 20 landings and takeoffs of Ospreys around U.S. bases by 3:30 p.m. on Thursday. ... A spokesperson for U.S. military forces in Japan did not immediately respond to a request for comment. ... "Our focus is on the ongoing search and rescue operations, and we're praying for a safe return," Rahm Emanuel, the U.S. ambassador to Japan, said in a post on X.
Witnesses said the aircraft's left engine appeared to be on fire as it approached an airport for an emergency landing in clear weather and light winds, media reported.
{snip}
Reporting by Chang-Ran Kim, Kantaro Komiya, Tim Kelly, and Sakura Murakami; Writing by John Geddie; Editing by Kim Coghill, Gerry Doyle and Bernadette Baum
Kantaro Komiya
Thomson Reuters
Kantaro.Komiya@thomsonreuters.com
https://twitter.com/kantarokomiya
Kantaro writes about everything from Japan's economic indicators to North Korea's missiles to global regulation on AI companies. His previous stories have been published in the Associated Press, Bloomberg, the Japan Times and Rest of World. A Tokyo native, Kantaro graduated from DePauw University in the United States and was the recipient of the Overseas Press Club Foundation 2020 Scholar Award.