Japan Coast Guard via Reuters
A U.S. military Osprey carrying six people crashed into the ocean off southern Japan on Wednesday, with at least one of the crew members confirmed dead by the local coast guard.
Rescue aircraft and patrol boats were dispatched to the crash site near the small island of Yakushima. The status of the five other crew members and the cause of the crash were not immediately known, a coast guard spokesperson said.
The spokesperson added that it was initially thought that the aircraft—a hybrid vehicle that takes off and lands like a helicopter but can reposition its propellers to cruise like an airplane—was carrying eight people. The U.S. military later revised the figure to six. The CV-22 Osprey was operated by the U.S. Air Force.