Defense force trainer plane with 2 crew crashes in central Japan lake
KYODO NEWS - 27 minutes ago - 19:58 | Others
An Air Self-Defense Force training plane with two personnel aboard crashed into a reservoir in central Japan shortly after takeoff, the government said Wednesday.
The ASDF said it is working to confirm the situation involving the T-4 jet, which disappeared from radar after departing Komaki Air Base in Aichi Prefecture at around 3 p.m. No casualties have been reported among people living near Lake Iruka in Inuyama, a city in the same prefecture.
Police said what appears to be oil was seen floating on the surface of the lake.
Speaking at a parliamentary committee, Defense Minister Gen Nakatani vowed swift search and rescue efforts.
The T-4 had left Komaki base for Nyutabaru Air Base in the southwestern prefecture of Miyazaki when the accident occurred, according to the ASDF.
T-4s are domestically made, two-seat aircraft used mainly to train fighter jet pilots. The ASDF's Blue Impulse aerobatic team also uses them.
In recent years, Self-Defense Forces aircraft have been involved in fatal accidents almost every year, such as a crash of a UH-60JA helicopter into waters off an island in the southern prefecture of Okinawa in April 2023, killing all 10 people aboard.
In April last year, two SH-60K patrol choppers, each carrying four crew members, collided during a night submarine detection drill over waters near a remote Pacific island, with no survivors.
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