Photo/Illutration The submarine rescue ship Chihaya, left, assists in search efforts for a missing Ground Self-Defense Force helicopter off Miyakojima island in Okinawa Prefecture on April 16. (Mika Kuniyoshi)

Divers have recovered two bodies of Ground Self-Defense Force members who were aboard the helicopter that crashed in waters off Okinawa Prefecture.

The Defense Ministry announced on the evening of April 16 that the government had confirmed the two crew members’ deaths, after saturation divers descended to the sea bottom that day and spotted the helicopter wreckage and five crew members.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters at his office on April 17 that he felt “heartbreaking grief” about the tragedy.

The 10 people aboard the helicopter included senior officials of the GSDF’s 8th Division who had been recently assigned, among them division head Lt. Gen. Yuichi Sakamoto.

Kishida pledged that the central government “will do its best to have all 10 members, who have put everything they have into their jobs to defend Japan, returned to their families as soon as possible.”

According to the ministry, the helicopter and five bodies were discovered about six kilometers north of Irabujima island, on the sea floor about 106 meters below the surface, at around 8:30 a.m. on April 16.

Divers recovered two of the five bodies and a Japan Coast Guard patrol vessel transported the bodies to Hirara Port in Miyakojima in the prefecture.

GSDF doctors confirmed the deaths of the two adult men at around 7 p.m., the ministry said.

Family members are expected to be allowed to see the remains to identify the bodies.

The search and rescue team will continue its efforts to recover the three remaining bodies and search for the missing five.

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