Aomori town seeks halt to US fighter flights after tank disposals

February 22, 2018

Tohoku, Aomori Prefecture- The town government of Tohoku, Aomori Prefecture, northeastern Japan, said Wednesday that it has urged the head of the US Air Force's Misawa Air Base to halt the flight operations of F-16 fighters until the safety of the aircraft is confirmed.

The request came after an F-16 fighter from the base in the city of Misawa in Aomori released two fuel tanks into Lake Ogawara in Tohoku on Tuesday.

In the wake of the incident, Tohoku Mayor Koji Ebina called on Col. R. Scott Jobe of the Misawa base to suspend flight operations, according to the town government.

Separately, the Aomori prefectural government asked the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force's Ominato District unit in the city of Mutsu on Wednesday to collect fuel oil from the lake as a disaster relief operation, calling for the early restoration of the lake to its original condition. The Defense Ministry dispatched MSDF officials following the request.

"We seriously accept the fact that fishermen have been forced to suspend their operations," Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera said the same day. "We'll faithfully compensate for the (related) damage."

Jobe met with Koichiro Maita, deputy mayor of Misawa, at the Misawa city hall on Tuesday and made an apology over the accident, saying it had made local residents feel uneasy, according to the municipal government. Jiji Press