Two Maritime Self-Defense Force helicopters appear to have crashed late Saturday during nighttime training off the Izu Islands in the Pacific Ocean, the Defense Ministry said, with seven crew members missing.
Contact was lost with the SH-60K helicopters, each carrying four crew, in an area east of Torishima in the Izu Island chain during antisubmarine warfare training at 10:38 p.m. and 11:04 p.m., respectively, Defense Minister Minoru Kihara told a televised news conference.
One of eight occupants was found, Kihara said, while the Self-Defense Forces are continuing their search for the remaining crew. The condition of the crew member who was found was not immediately clear.
Eight MSDF ships and five aircraft, as well as two Japan Coast Guard vessels, are involved in the operation, Kihara said.
The MSDF said that after contact was lost with the first helicopter, and emergency signal had been received from the aircraft. Some 25 minutes later, communication with the other helicopter was lost in the same area.
Kihara said no other vessels or aircraft from other countries were detected in the waters nearby, and that outside involvement was unlikely.
SH-60K helicopters are mainly operated from MSDF destroyers. In August 2017, one of the helicopters crashed in waters off Tappizaki Cape in Aomori Prefecture, with two out of three crew aboard found dead and a remaining member never found.
The crashes come just over a year after a Ground Self-Defense Force UH-60JA helicopter crashed off Miyako Island in Okinawa Prefecture, killing all 10 people on board.