US military aircraft with eight on board crashes into sea after emergency call
Details about what happened on the aircraft have not yet been confirmed (Picture: AFP via Getty Images)
A US military aircraft carrying eight people has crashed into the sea off southern Japan.
The Japanese coast guard received an emergency call from a fishing boat near the crash site off Yakushima, an island south of Kagoshima, on the southern main island of Kyushu.
The Osprey aircraft, which can function as a helicopter and a turboprop aircraft, is believed to have been heading from Iwakuni to Okinawa.
Details about what happened on the aircraft have not yet been confirmed but Japanese broadcaster NHK said the Osprey was trying to land at Yakushima airport and added the plane was on fire.
A rescue mission has now been deployed and the coast guard is heading to the site for search and rescue operations, coast guard spokesperson Kazuo Ogawa said.
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