Skip to main content

US Marine Corps Osprey crashes off Japan, injuring five


A US military aircraft with five service members on-board has crashed off Japan’s Okinawa island, days after a Marine Corps F/A-18 pilot died in another crash in the Japanese territorial waters.
The MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft was flying over Okinawa’s east coast late Tuesday, when it crashed in shallow waters near the shore, according to the US Marine Corps.
All of the crew survived the crash, Japanese military said, noting that three of the airmen had life-threatening injuries and were being treated at a US Navy hospital at the Kadena Air Base.
The Marines suspended flights of all Osprey military aircraft in Japan after the crash.
Last Wednesday, a Marine Corps F/A-18C Hornet fighter jet went down when it was flying about 120 miles southeast of the city of Iwakuni, which is located in Yamaguchi Prefecture and hosts a Marine Corps air station.
The Hornet’s 32-year-old pilot was able to eject the aircraft before impact but did not survive the incident. His body was recovered by Japanese search and rescue ships a day later.
The Osprey’s crash just off Nago City prompted protests across Okinawa, where a heavy presence of American troops has long been a source of tension due to the high rate of crimes committed by them.
After the rape of a Japanese schoolgirl by three US troops in 1996, Washington and Tokyo agreed to relocate some US servicemen outside Okinawa and move others to less populated parts of the island.
Protesters, however, want the nearly 50,000 US military personnel and their bases to leave the island altogether.
Okinawans have also held protests against the Osprey’s deployment on the island because of safety concerns.
The aircraft was introduced in June 2007, and has had seven hull-loss accidents with a total of 36 fatalities since its first flight in 1989.
Last May, an Osprey was nearly destroyed after it was forced to crash land in Hawaii.
The Bell Boeing product combines helicopter and airplane capabilities which allow it to transport up to 32 soldiers and reach top speeds of over 500 km/h.
The $72 million military aircraft is also capable of vertical takeoff and landing and has taken part in military operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Kuwait.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

General Qasem Soleymani's letter to the Secretary of Defense of the United States of America

In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate Obama has sent a rude and threatening Letter to Imam Khamenei (d.z) , Iran's Supreme Leader. Few days later Imam Khamenei (d.z) proclaimed that he replied to Obama's threatening letter. People were eager to know about the answer but no one was aware of the letter's content. Cmdr. Qasem Soleimani sent a letter to the Secretary of Defense of the United States of America, a letter that may help us to find out about the content of the Supreme Leader's letter. The so-called letter made Americans furiously angry so that the United State Congress issued Cmdr's assassination. To find out how important was this action, it would be interesting to describe the procedure through which the letter was received by The Secretary of Defense United States Department Of War includes seven protective filters four of which are specifically designed to monitor data sent to secretary of defense. . Sending a letter ...

Slovenia reopens embassy in Iran’s capital after nearly four years

The Slovenian government has reopened its embassy in the Iranian capital after nearly four years of closure. Slovenian President Borut Pahor, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his Slovenian counterpart Karl Erjavec attended a ceremony for the reopening of the embassy in Tehran on Wednesday. Speaking during the ceremony, Zarif said the reopening of the Slovenian embassy would set a good trend towards the promotion of relations between the two countries. “There are good and suitable grounds for bilateral cooperation, which… we can advance [to a level] beneficial to the regional nations,” Zarif said. Pahor, for his part, said the reopening of his country’s embassy in Tehran bears testimony to good cooperation between the two countries. “We want to create common interests among our nations, and we believe that today is a very significant and promising moment for both countries and highly important for the development of Slovenia's diplomatic a...

Yemeni tribes joind hands to counter Saudi aggression

Yemeni tribes in different provinces have joined forces to counter the deadly Saudi aggression against their country, vowing revenge for the blood of the innocent. In the northwestern province of Hajjah, the tribes of the Sharafein district expressed their readiness to deploy forces to the battleground in response to a call issued by the tribes of Khulan and Sanhan, Yemen’s al-Masirah television reported on Saturday. Bani Sara tribe in al-Shaqadreh also said that it was prepared to team up with Khulan al-Tayal tribe to score a victory against the Riyadh regime and take revenge for the recent Saudi carnage in the capital, Sana’a, which was denounced by rights groups as a war crime. Sana’a saw one of the deadliest Saudi attacks on October 8, when the regime’s warplanes bombarded a funeral hall packed with mourners in the capital city, killing more than 140 people and injuring at least 525 others. The tribe of Sanhan in Sana’a put 300 troops equipped with arms on ale...