Japan 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.
Japan’s minister of defence, Minoru Kihara said the occurrence of such an accident causes great anxiety to the people of the region, requesting the U.S. to conduct flights of Ospreys deployed in Japan after the flights are confirmed to be safe.
He also stated that 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.
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 while search and rescue operations to find the remaining seven crew are still ongoing.
U.S. ambassador to Japan, Rahm Emanuel said in a post on X that the focus is on the ongoing search and rescue operations, praying for a safe return.
