US helicopter flies over Okinawa school again

February 24, 2018

Tokyo- A US military helicopter has flown over an Okinawa Prefecture elementary school onto which a US helicopter window dropped in December, according to Japanese officials.

This was the second such development since the December incident, which sparked a fierce backlash from local residents.

Around 3:35 p.m. Friday (6:35 a.m. GMT), officials from the Japanese Defense Ministry's Okinawa Defense Bureau in the southern Japan prefecture spotted the MH-60 helicopter of the U.S. Navy flying over the school, located next to the US Marine Corps' Futenma air base in the city of Ginowan.

The ministry later demanded the US side fully implement measures to prevent similar incidents.

The U.S. military expressed "regret" over the latest incident in a statement on Friday, noting that the chopper "inadvertently overflew the school."

"An investigation immediately began to determine the facts and circumstances surrounding the overflight in order to prevent such flights from occurring again in the future," it said, adding that it is "working closely" with the Japanese side "to transparently share information as soon as it becomes available."

On Dec. 13, a window with a 90-centimeter-square metal frame fell from a Marine Corps helicopter onto the playground of the elementary school during its flight. About 50 students were on the playground at the time.

In the wake of the incident, the US military agreed with the Japanese ministry to avoid aircraft flights over any schools as much as possible.

On Jan. 18, however, three US military helicopters were spotted over the same Okinawa school. Jiji Press