The Defense Ministry on Nov. 30 called on the U.S. military to suspend its Osprey flights following the first fatal accident involving the transport aircraft in Japan the previous day.

“We have asked the U.S. side to resume flying Ospreys deployed in Japan, except for those on search and rescue missions, only after safety is confirmed, and to quickly provide information about the accident,” Defense Minister Minoru Kihara told an Upper House Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee session.

The ministry will suspend flights of V-22 Osprey aircraft owned by the Ground Self-Defense Force for the time being, officials said.

The U.S. CV-22 Osprey crashed off Yakushima island in Kagoshima Prefecture on the afternoon of Nov. 29. One crew member was confirmed dead.

The Japan Coast Guard and the Self-Defense Forces continued the search for the seven other crew members through Nov. 30.

The 10th Regional Coast Guard Headquarters, which is in charge of sea areas around Kagoshima, Kumamoto and Miyazaki prefectures, sent six patrol boats and two helicopters to the site of the crash just east of Yakushima island.

Several fishing boats from a fisheries cooperative association on Yakushima island joined the search.

Kihara offered “heartfelt condolences.”

But he also said the “extremely regrettable” accident has caused “considerable anxiety” in the local community.

The U.S. Osprey crashed while flying from the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni in Yamaguchi Prefecture to the U.S. Kadena Air Base in Okinawa Prefecture, according to coast guard sources.

Local residents who witnessed the accident said they saw flames emerging from the aircraft.

The Japan Coast Guard found what appeared to be aircraft wreckage and an unmanned life raft about 1 kilometer east of Yakushima island on Nov. 29. The depth of the water at the site is about 30 meters.

The aircraft was one of the six CV-22 Ospreys deployed at the U.S. Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo.

The Defense Ministry’s flight suspension request also covers 24 MV-22 Ospreys deployed at the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Okinawa Prefecture.

The ministry visually confirmed 14 takeoffs and landings of MV-22 Ospreys at Futenma between 2:40 p.m. on Nov. 29, when the CV-22 Osprey crashed, and 7 a.m. on Nov. 30, according to a senior ministry official.

The U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command on Nov. 29 said the Osprey that crashed was engaged in regular training off Yakushima island, and that the cause of the accident is still unknown.

Kayo Ito, 46, noticed an Osprey flying toward Yakushima Airport on Nov. 29 when she was out on the sea fishing.

Ito said the aircraft suddenly turned upside down and fell straight toward the sea, generating orange flames.

A plume of water rose dozens of meters, a column of black smoke billowed and a loud “boom” thundered around, Ito said.

Five fishing boats rushed to the scene, about 3 km away. Ito found pieces of wreckage scattered about and oil floating on the sea surface.

“I am frightened because the aircraft could have crashed into a home on the ground,” Ito said. “I hope the missing people will be found soon.”

Takayuki Habu, head of the Yakushima fisheries cooperative association, said he was relieved that none of the association members was affected.

“We expect the government to strongly urge the U.S. side to prevent a recurrence,” he said.

Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki on Nov. 29 called for an immediate halt to Osprey flights at Futenma, citing the danger of flying over the residential area there.

The GSDF’s 14 V-22 Ospreys, kept provisionally at Camp Kisarazu in Chiba Prefecture, are scheduled to be formally deployed at Saga Airport by July 2025.

“We are strongly interested in what happened if (the accident) occurred during normal travel,” Saga Governor Yoshinori Yamaguchi told reporters on Nov. 29.

A two-day, closed-door Osprey flight training session started at GSDF Camp Metabaru in Saga Prefecture on Nov. 29. The training scheduled for Nov. 30 was called off following the accident.

The Osprey is a tilt-rotor aircraft that takes off and lands like a helicopter and rotates its propellers forward during flight.

It has a history of accidents, including a crash of a Marine Corps Osprey that killed five crew members in the United States in June 2022.

Seven serious accidents involving CV-22s, such as those resulting in deaths or causing damage of $2.5 million or more, were reported around the world as of the end of September 2021, according to the Defense Ministry.