A helicopter carrying ten soldiers, including the commander of the 8th Division of the Ground Self-Defense Force, disappeared on April 6th near Miyako Island in Okinawa Prefecture. As of April 18th, six of them have been found, and all confirmed dead. The search continues for the remaining four.
On April 16th, a piece of the helicopter and five bodies were uncovered roughly 6 kilometers north of Irabu Island. The Self-Defense Forces recovered two soldiers on the same day, two more on the 17th, and one on the 18th, who all were declared deceased. The final soldier was detected at the bottom of the sea by means of a special deep-sea diving method known as “saturation diving” executed by a diver from the submarine rescue ship “Chihaya.” The Self-Defense Forces are in progress of determining who these five soldiers are and will keep searching for any other four missing individuals.
No evidence of a “black box” has been found during the search, which may have been inside the submerged chopper. The Minister of Defense, Hamada, promised to take all possible measures to reunite the ten servicemen on board with their families at the earliest.
The accident occurred when the aircraft departed from Miyakojima sub-base at 3:46 pm on April 6th and disappeared from radar ten minutes later while soaring 18 kilometers above sea level northwest of the island. Among those onboard was Yuichi Sakamoto, commander of 8th Division. The reason for this tragedy is yet to be identified and is undergoing inquiry.