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Two Japanese navy helicopters carrying eight crew members crashed in the Pacific Ocean south of Tokyo during a nighttime training flight after possibly colliding with each other, the countrys defence minister said on Sunday...
The two SH-60K choppers from the Maritime Self Defence Force were carrying four crew each and lost contact late Saturday near Torishima island about 600 kilometers (370 miles) south of Tokyo, Defence Minister Minoru Kihara told reporters...
The cause of the crash was not immediately known, but the two helicopters might have collided with each other before crashing into the water, Kihara said.. Rescuers have recovered a flight data recorder, a blade from each helicopter, and fragments believed to be from both choppers in the same area, signs that the two SH-60Ks were flying close to each other, Kihara said..
They said no foreign aircraft or warships were spotted in the area.. Japan, under its 2022 security strategy, has been accelerating its military buildup and fortifying deterrence in the southwestern Japanese islands in the Pacific and East China Sea to counter threats from Chinas increasingly assertive military activities..
Saturdays crash comes a year after a Ground Self-Defence Force UH-60 Blackhawk crashed off the southwestern Japanese island of Miyako, due to an engine output problem known as rollback, leaving all 10 crew members dead, which shocked the nation..
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