7 crew members remain missing in US Osprey crash that killed 1: Japan Coast Guard

7 crew members remain missing in US Osprey crash that killed 1: Japan Coast Guard

Dive searches were conducted in areas identified by side-scan sonar.

ByAnthony Trotter and Patricio Chile

December 2, 2023, 11:41 AM

The search for the seven crew members missing after a U.S. military Osprey crashed off the shore of Yakushima Island in southern Japan has yielded no new clues, the Japanese Coast Guard said Saturday.

Dive searches were conducted in areas identified by side-scan sonar, both in the morning and afternoon, yet no new information has surfaced after the CV-22 Osprey aircraft crashed on Wednesday, the 10th Regional Coast Guard told ABC News.

Recovered debris, believed to be part of wreckage from a crashed US Air Force CV-22B Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft, is seen after it was brought ashore at Yakushima-cho in Kagoshima prefecture, Japan, on Nov. 30, 2023.Stringer/JIJI PRESS/AFP via Getty Images

At least one U.S. airman who had been onboard the aircraft was recovered from the ocean and later died, Japanese officials said.

The airman was identified by the Air Force on Friday as Staff Sgt. Jacob “Jake” M. Galliher, 24, a direct support operator assigned to the 43rd Intelligence Squadron.

US military personnel carry a dinghy as they head out to search for the crash of a US CV-22B Osprey aircraft, on the island of Yakushima, Kagoshima Prefecture, in Japan, on Dec. 1, 2023.Stringer/JIJI Press/AFP via Getty Images

The crash took place during a “routine training mission,” according to the U.S. Air Force, which added that the cause is currently unknown.

A Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force minesweeper searches in the waters where a U.S. military Osprey aircraft crashed, off Yakushima, Kagoshima prefecture, southern Japan, Dec. 1, 2023.Kyodo News via AP

The Osprey, a vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, or VTOL, is manufactured by Bell Boeing.

The search, involving patrol vessels, is scheduled to continue Sunday.