Japanese Navy helicopter crash leaves one dead and seven missing

TOKYO – Two Japanese naval helicopters carrying eight crew members crashed in the Pacific Ocean south of Tokyo during a night training exercise in a possible collision, killing one as rescuers searched for seven missing people on Sunday, the defense minister said.

The Maritime Self-Defense Force’s two SH-60K helicopters each carried four crew members and lost contact late Saturday near Torishima Island, about 600 kilometers south of Tokyo, Defense Minister Minoru Kihara told reporters.

The cause of the crash was not immediately known, but officials believe the two helicopters “very likely” collided before hitting the water, Kihara said.

Navy Chief of Staff Admiral Ryo Sakai said training with the SH-60s will be suspended until the cause of the crash is determined and preventive measures are taken.

Rescuers found a flight data recorder, a knife from each helicopter and fragments believed to be from both helicopters in the same area, indicating the two SH-60Ks flew close to each other, Kihara said.

Search and rescue operations for the missing crew were expanded on Sunday with the deployment of twelve warships and seven aircraft. Japanese Coast Guard patrol boats and aircraft also took part in the operation.

U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel offered his country’s help in the search and rescue efforts.

“We will stand together, side by side, with our friend and ally Japan. My thoughts are with the crew members and their families and friends at this challenging time,” he wrote on the social platform X.

The twin-engine, multi-mission helicopters developed by Sikorsky and known as Seahawks were modified and produced in Japan by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. They underwent nighttime anti-submarine training, Kihara said. One lost contact at 10:38 p.m. and sent an automatic distress signal a minute later.

Only one distress signal, called a distress transmitter, was heard, another sign that the helicopters were near the same location because their signals use the same frequency and could not be distinguished from each other, Kihara said.

One helicopter belonged to an air base in Nagasaki and the other to a base in Tokushima Prefecture. Officials interviewed the pilot of a third plane that also participated in Saturday’s training, Kihara said.

The SH-60K aircraft is most often deployed on destroyers for anti-submarine warfare, but is also used for search and rescue and other missions. Japan has about 70 of these modified helicopters.

Saturday’s training involved only the Japanese navy and was not part of a multinational exercise, defense officials said.

Japan, under its 2022 Security Strategy, has accelerated its military build-up and strengthening of deterrence in Japan’s southwestern Pacific Islands and the East China Sea to counter threats from China’s increasingly assertive military activities to go. Japan has conducted its own extensive naval exercises in recent years, as well as joint exercises with its ally the United States and other partners.

Saturday’s training was part of routine exercises involving warships, submarines and Seahawk helicopters, Japan’s navy chief of staff said. During the training, a number of helicopters hover together while lowering sonars into the water to detect submarines.

In 2017, a Japanese Navy SH-60J, an earlier generation Seahawk, crashed during night training due to human error, killing three crew members. In July 2021, two SH-60s had a minor collision off the southern island of Amamioshima, in which both suffered blade damage but caused no injuries.

After the 2021 collision, the Navy introduced a series of preventive measures to ensure sufficient distance between aircraft. Sakai said Saturday’s crash could have been prevented if all safety measures had been adequately followed.

In the US, the fatal crash of an MH-60S Seahawk during training off the coast of California in 2021 was blamed on mechanical failure due to unsuspected damage during maintenance, the Navy said.

The crash in Japan also comes a year after a Ground Self-Defense Force UH-60 Blackhawk crashed off the coast of the southwestern island of Miyako due to an engine power problem known as ‘rollback’, killing all 10 crew members.

Japanese public television NHK said no weather advisories had been issued in the area at the time of Saturday’s crash.