Two Japanese Navy helicopters with eight crew members crashed into the sea

(Patria) - Two Japanese Navy helicopters with eight crew members are believed to have crashed into the Pacific Ocean south of Tokyo during a night exercise, and rescuers were searching for the missing, said Japanese Defense Minister, AP reports.

Two SH-60K helicopters belonging to the Maritime Self-Defense Force, each with four crew members, lost contact late Saturday near Torishima Island in the Pacific, about 600 kilometers south of Tokyo, Defense Minister Minoru Kihara told reporters. The cause of the accident is not immediately known, Kihara said, adding that officials are prioritizing the rescue operation.

One of the eight crew members was pulled from the water, but their condition is unknown. Officials were still searching for the other seven.

The Ministry of Defense has deployed eight warships and five aircraft to search and rescue the missing crew. They found fragments believed to be from one of the SH-60K, Kihara said. "We believe the helicopters crashed," he said.

The helicopters, designed by Sikorsky and known as Seahawk, were on a night anti-submarine training mission, Kihara said. One lost contact at 10:38 PM after sending an emergency signal. The other lost contact about 25 minutes later.

Saturday's training involved only the Japanese Navy and was not part of a multinational exercise, defense officials said. They said no foreign aircraft or warships were observed in the area.

The accident occurred a year after a Ground Self-Defense Force UH-60 Black Hawk crashed off the southwestern Japanese island of Miyako, killing all ten crew members. In January 2022, an F-15 fighter jet crashed, killing two crew members.