US military helicopter crashes in Okinawa

October 12, 2017

NAHA, OKINAWA PREF.- A US military transport helicopter made an emergency landing and burst into flames near a training area in Okinawa Prefecture, southernmost Japan, Wednesday afternoon.

None of the seven crew members or residents were injured, according to the local fire department and others.

The crash occurred at a pasture outside the US military's Camp Gonsalves training area in the village of Higashi around 5:15 p.m. (8:15 a.m. GMT), according to the Defense Ministry and others.

The US Marine Corps in Okinawa said a CH-53E helicopter caught fire during flight and made an emergency landing outside Camp Gonsalves and that the cause of the accident was under investigation.

The helicopter had been deployed at the Marine Corps' Futenma air station in the Okinawa city of Ginowan.

The fire was almost put out by the US military by 8:15 p.m.

Speaking to reporters in Naha, the capital of Okinawa, Governor Takeshi Onaga expressed strong anger at the crash.

The prefectural government will ask the US military to suspend operations of CH-53s until the cause of the accident is determined, Onaga said.

In 2004, a CH-53 crashed into a building at Okinawa International University near the Futenma base. Jiji Press