The confirmed death toll from the crash of a Japanese Self-Defense Forces helicopter rose to five Tuesday as a search continued for the missing in waters off Okinawa.
Three new deaths were confirmed on the same day, the SDF said. It had found the remains of five people and part of the Ground Self-Defense Force's UH-60JA helicopter on Sunday.
The chopper disappeared off the southern prefecture's Miyako Island with 10 aboard in early April.
On Tuesday, divers also found a sixth body in the waters around where the five were found, the SDF said.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told a press conference that the government is looking into using private companies to recover the helicopter wreckage and find the remaining missing personnel.
The GSDF is working to quickly ascertain the identities of the recovered bodies. Among the personnel aboard was Lt. Gen. Yuichi Sakamoto, 55, commander of the GSDF's 8th Division based in Kumamoto Prefecture.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida vowed to do "everything I can to ensure the 10 personnel are returned to their families as soon as possible."
Divers found the five bodies and a section of the chopper at around 8:30 a.m. on Sunday on the ocean floor at a depth of 106 meters, according to the GSDF.
The deep-sea search and recovery of the dead is being conducted using a technique called saturation diving, which allows divers to work at great depths without the need to undergo regular decompression.
The helicopter is believed to have gone down after disappearing from radar about 10 minutes following takeoff from a base on Miyako Island on the afternoon of April 6.
The wreckage was found on the seabed about 6 kilometers north of Irabu Island, some 4 km north of where the aircraft was last detected.
Related coverage:
2 people from missing SDF chopper off Okinawa confirmed dead
Deep-sea search for missing SDF chopper paused again amid bad weather
Japan dismisses speculation of China link to SDF chopper accident
