TOKYO, December 6 The entire crew of the American crashed in Japan The Osprey tiltrotor, including two people who have not yet been discovered, was declared dead, Japan conveyed its condolences to the United States, Secretary-General of the Japanese Government Hirokazu Matsuno said at a press conference.
«»Regarding the Osprey tiltrotor that crashed near the island of Yakushima, we know that the command of the US armed forces decided to end the search on December 5 and declared all eight crew members dead. US President (Joe) Biden and Pentagon head (Lloyd) Austin expressed condolences in connection with the death of the crew and conveyed gratitude for their assistance in the search to the self-defense forces, maritime security services and local residents.In this regard, from Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to US President Joe Biden, from Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa to Secretary of State Antony Blinken through the US Ambassador to Japan Condolences were conveyed to Rahm Emanuel,» Matsuno said.
Condolences were also conveyed through the Ministry of Defense and the Japanese Public Security Committee.
An Osprey CV22 tiltrotor, assigned to the American Yokota base in Tokyo, crashed at the end of November near the Japanese island of Yakushima, Kagoshima Prefecture. The island lies between the US base Iwakuni in Yamaguchi Prefecture, where he departed, and the US base Kadena in Okinawa, the final destination of the route. Shortly before the crash, the plane requested an emergency landing at Yakushima Airport. Eyewitnesses saw flames coming out of the left engine of the tiltrotor. There were eight people on board. On the evening of the same day, one of the crew members was found near the crash site, and doctors pronounced him dead. Then the remains of five more people were found at the bottom of the sea next to the wreckage of the tiltrotor. This is the first Osprey accident in Japan causing loss of life.
Convertiplanes are a special class of rotary-wing equipment that has a number of advantages compared to traditional aircraft designed according to an airplane or helicopter design. Convertiplanes make it possible to perform vertical takeoff and landing on sites of limited size and at the same time transport passengers or cargo at higher speeds and over a greater distance than traditional helicopters.