By MARI YAMAGUCHI (Associated Press)
TOKYO (AP) — U.S. and Japanese divers have found wreckage and the stays of 5 crew members from a U.S. Air Force Osprey plane that crashed final week off southwestern Japan, the Air Force introduced Monday.
The CV-22 Osprey carrying eight American personnel crashed final Wednesday off Yakushima island throughout a coaching mission. The physique of 1 sufferer was recovered and recognized earlier.
The Air Force Special Operations Command stated two of the 5 newly positioned stays have been recovered however their identities have but to be decided. The joint U.S.-Japanese search operation remains to be working to recuperate the stays of three different crew members from the wreckage, it stated.
The search is constant for the 2 people who find themselves nonetheless lacking, it stated.
“The main priority is bringing the Airmen home and taking care of their family members. Support to, and the privacy of, the families and loved ones impacted by this incident remains AFSOC’s top priority,” it stated in an announcement.
The U.S. army recognized the one confirmed sufferer as Air Force Staff Sgt. Jacob Galliher of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, on Saturday.
Japanese coast guard officers say the ocean is about 30 meters (100 toes) deep across the crash web site.
The U.S.-made Osprey is a hybrid plane that takes off and lands like a helicopter however can rotate its propellers ahead and cruise a lot sooner, like an airplane, throughout flight.
Ospreys have had quite a lot of crashes, together with in Japan, the place they’re used at U.S. and Japanese army bases, and the most recent accident has rekindled security issues.
Japan has suspended all flights of its personal fleet of 14 Ospreys. Japanese officers say they’ve requested the U.S. army to renew Osprey flights solely after making certain their security. The Pentagon stated no such formal request has been made and that the U.S. army is constant to fly 24 MV-22s, the Marine model of Ospreys, deployed on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa.
On Sunday, items of wreckage that Japan’s coast guard and native fishing boats have collected have been handed over to the U.S. army for examination, coast guard officers stated. Japan’s army stated particles it has collected would even be handed over to the U.S.
Coast guard officers stated the recovered items of wreckage embrace some elements of the plane and an inflatable life raft, however nothing associated to the reason for the crash, equivalent to an engine. Local witnesses reported seeing hearth coming from one of many engines.
Local fishing boats have helped within the search efforts, giving up their day by day catch. Public broadcaster NHK stated the Defense Ministry plans to cowl their misplaced earnings and gasoline.
Under the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement, Japanese authorities usually are not given the fitting to grab or examine U.S. army property until the U.S. decides in any other case. That means it is going to be virtually inconceivable for Japan to independently examine the reason for the accident.
The settlement has typically made Japanese investigations troublesome in felony instances involving American service members on Okinawa and elsewhere. It has been criticized as unequal by rights activists and others, together with Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki, who has known as for a revision.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”