General NewsDefense & Security

Sixth Body Likely from Missing Chopper Found

The Yomiuri Shimbun
Japan Coast Guard patrol ship Harimizu, left, floats by Maritime Self-Defense Force submarine rescue vessel Chihaya, during a process believed to moving the recovered bodies on Sunday.

Jiji Press

11:06 JST, April 19, 2023

Tokyo, April 18 (Jiji Press)—A sixth body, apparently that of one of the 10 people aboard a Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force helicopter that went missing off Miyako Island in the southernmost Japan prefecture of Okinawa on April 6, was found on Tuesday.

The body was discovered by deep-sea divers of the Maritime SDF near the wreckage of the GSDF chopper on the seabed at a depth of 106 meters in waters 6 kilometers north of Irabu Island, which is connected to Miyako Island by a bridge.

The other five bodies were found around the wreckage on Sunday and recovered by Tuesday.

The GSDF and others will expand their search area in hopes of locating the four people still missing, while working to recover the sixth body.

On Tuesday, the hydrographic survey vessel Heiyo of the Japan Coast Guard joined the search. It can create a 3D map of the seafloor topography, even at depths of 10,000 meters or more.