5 bodies found in wreck of Osprey aircraft that crashed off Japan, US Air Force says

American and Japanese divers have discovered wreckage and remains of crew members from a US Air Force Osprey aircraft that crashed last week off southwestern Japan, the Air Force announced on Monday.

The CV-22 Osprey carrying eight American personnel crashed last Wednesday off Yakushima island during a training mission. The body of one victim was recovered and identified earlier, while seven others remained missing.

The Air Force Special Operations Command said search teams were able to locate remains along with the main fuselage of the aircraft wreckage.

“The dive teams were able to confirm five additional crew members from the original team of eight that were involved with the crash,” it said in a statement.

“The main priority is bringing the Airmen home and taking care of their family members,” it said. “Support to, and the privacy of, the families and loved ones impacted by this incident remains AFSOC’s top priority.”

The US military identified the one confirmed victim as Air Force Staff Sergeant Jacob Galliher of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, on Saturday.

The US-made Osprey is a hybrid aircraft that takes off and lands like a helicopter but can rotate its propellers forward and cruise much faster, like an aeroplane, during flight.

Ospreys have had a number of crashes, including in Japan, where they are used at US and Japanese military bases, and the latest accident rekindled safety concerns.

Japan has suspended all flights of its own fleet of 14 Ospreys. Japanese officials say they had asked the US military to resume Osprey flights only after ensuring their safety. The Pentagon said no such formal request has been made and that the US military is continuing to fly 24 MV-22s, the Marine version of Ospreys, deployed on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa.

On Sunday, pieces of wreckage that Japan’s coastguard and local fishing boats had collected were handed over to the US military for examination, coastguard officials said. Japan’s military said debris it collected would also be handed over to the US.

Coastguard officials said the recovered pieces of wreckage include parts of the aircraft and an inflatable life raft but nothing related to the cause of the crash, such as an engine. Local witnesses reported seeing fire coming from one of the engines.

Under the Japan-US Status of Forces Agreement, Japanese authorities are not given the right to seize or investigate US military property unless the US decides otherwise. That means it will be practically impossible for Japan to independently investigate the cause of the accident.

The agreement has often made Japanese investigations difficult in criminal cases involving American service members on Okinawa and elsewhere, and has been criticised as unequal by rights activists and others, including Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki, who has called for a revision.

Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse