Japan scrambles to search for missing helicopter as ‘several bodies found’

ISTANBUL

Several bodies, believed to be of the crew aboard a helicopter that went missing in Japan last week, have been found, local media reports said on Friday.

“Crews searching for a Japan Self-Defense Forces (SDF) helicopter that went missing with 10 personnel aboard … have found what are believed to be several bodies,” Tokyo-based Kyodo News reported, citing an unnamed government source.

The Japanese helicopter carrying at least 10 crew members, including Lt. Gen. Yuichi Sakamoto, went off the radar on April 6 at around 3.46 p.m. local time (0646GMT), around 10 minutes after it took off from a military base on Miyako Island in Okinawa province.

The helicopter, which had undergone inspection last month, belonged to the Ground Self-Defense Force's 8th Division based in Japan’s southwestern Kumamoto province.

Crews from SDF and the Japan Coast Guard, which include minesweepers, submarine rescue vessels, aircraft, and patrol vessels, have been searching the area since Thursday night.

“An underwater camera showed severe damage to the piece of the helicopter that was found northeast of Irabu Island, an island connected by bridge to Miyako Island,” the report added.

Search teams have also found some debris on the shores of Irabu Island.

“The cause of the crash remains unknown. Neither of the two air traffic control centers in the area received a distress signal from the helicopter's emergency locator transmitter which is designed to automatically activate on impact,” according to Japanese officials.

The crew of the missing helicopter had communicated with air traffic control for about two minutes before it broke off the radar, disappearing around Miyako Island – its scheduled route – while authorities described the weather as “bright with good visibility of over 10 kilometers (6.2 miles)” and the wind was “mild” for a flight.