Crashed Japan navy choppers found on seabed after deep-sea probe began
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Crew members checking an SH-60K helicopter in January 2024. Two SH-60K helicopters were conducting drills in April 2024 when they collided.
PHOTO: AFP
TOKYO – Japan’s navy has located on the seabed the wreckage of two helicopters that crashed more than three months ago, killing eight crew members.
The SH-60K helicopters, each crewed by four people, were conducting submarine location drills off the Izu Islands in the Pacific Ocean in April when they collided.
To date, only one body has been found while the other seven persons were declared dead in June by Japan’s Maritime Self-Defence Forces after a fruitless search operation.
A deep-sea probe by a national research institute that began in July led to the discovery of the two aircraft “on the seabed near the site of the crash”, according to a navy statement released on July 22.
“The seabed investigation is continuing, and we are assessing whether pulling up the bodies of the aircraft will be possible,” it said.
While cognisant of the proximity to each other, the two helicopters “never attempted to avoid each other until the moment of the collision”, suggesting lapses in standard lookout practices, a Japanese defence ministry report said earlier in July.
The report also concluded altitude control of the aircraft was “insufficient”.
In April 2023, a Japanese UH-60JA helicopter with 10 people on board crashed off Miyako island in southern Okinawa. There were no survivors. AFP