TOKYO: A US military helicopter crashed in waters off the Japanese southern island of Okinawa, Japan’s defense ministry said on Wednesday, citing information from the US military, foreign authorities stated.
The Japanese Coast Guard, citing the US military, said that all 17 people on board the UH-60 Black Hawk had been rescued, including seven who were injured. The US Forces, Japan, had no immediate comment.
The accident comes as Japan’s central government begins talks with Okinawa’s governor over contentious plans to relocate a US Marines air base to a less crowded part of the island, host to the bulk of US military forces in Japan.
Residents of Okinawa, the site of bloody battles between US and Japanese forces near the end of World War Two, have long objected to tens of thousands of US troops and US military installations on 18 per cent of their island.
