Photo/Illutration Self-Defense Forces personnel search the coast of Ikemajima island, north of Miyakojima island, in Okinawa Prefecture, on April 17. (Mika Kuniyoshi)

The Defense Ministry on April 18 confirmed the deaths of two more Ground Self-Defense Force members who were aboard a helicopter that crashed in Okinawa Prefecture, while the search continued for five other crewmen.

Four bodies of GSDF personnel have been retrieved from the seabed off Miyakojima island where the helicopter wreckage was found.

SDF saturation divers on the morning of April 16 descended to the crash site and found the bodies of five crew members. Two were retrieved on the same day, another two on April 17, and efforts are being made to recover the other body.

The helicopter was carrying 10 people when it disappeared on April 6.

The ministry is also trying to retrieve the flight data recorder from the helicopter fuselage on the seabed. An analysis of the recorder could help to unravel some of the mysteries surrounding the crash, including the cause.

The ministry on April 16 said private companies can bid for the project to salvage the helicopter fuselage. The winning bidder will sign a contract as early as on April 21, the bidding date.

The helicopter will be salvaged by the end of June, according to the ministry.

UNEXPECTED LOCATION

The helicopter was discovered 106 meters below the surface about 4.2 kilometers north-northeast of the location where it vanished from radar.

The helicopter was believed to have been heading south of that location when it disappeared.

“That’s a completely different place than we expected,” a senior Defense Ministry official said on April 13. “We didn’t think that (the helicopter) was that far from the position where it was lost from the radar.”

It is doubtful that the UH60JA helicopter, which weighs about 8 tons, drifted on the rocky seabed after crashing, even though it lost its sliding door.

“It’s hard to imagine that the helicopter moved that far within a week even if the tide was intense,” the senior official said.

Crew members last communicated with the air traffic controller two minutes before the helicopter vanished.

The communications showed no signs of abnormalities in the helicopter operations.

It was initially believed that the helicopter crashed immediately after disappearing from radar because no SOS was sent.

But the location of the helicopter wreckage changed such assumptions.

“The helicopter could have changed course at a low altitude out of the radar’s reach and hovered until it crashed,” the senior official said.

Radar identifies the location of an aircraft by emitting electric waves and measuring the time it takes for them to bounce back. The lower the altitude is, the harder it is for the radar to detect the aircraft.

“Some malfunction could have lowered the altitude, but crew members could have continued to fly while struggling to avoid a crash,” the official said.

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