A vessel belonging to the U.S. military arrived Saturday at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni carrying wreckage from one of the nation's Osprey transport aircraft, which crashed off a southwestern Japan island in late November, a local government said.
The city government of Iwakuni in Yamaguchi Prefecture unveiled the arrival, citing a local bureau of Japan's Defense Ministry. The U.S. military is expected to fully investigate what has been salvaged from the aircraft, which crashed in waters near Yakushima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture on Nov. 29, killing all eight people on board.
It was confirmed Wednesday that the wreckage had been pulled out of the sea and placed onto the salvage vessel's deck board.
The aircraft's black box has already been recovered and will allow the U.S. military to look into what caused the crash, according to sources related to the matter.
The recovered wreckage is part of the fuselage of the CV-22 transport aircraft, which was assigned to Yokota Air Base in the western suburbs of Tokyo. The fuselage was found underwater in early December near the island.
So far, the bodies of seven airmen have been recovered, and the U.S. Air Force has declared all eight crew members dead.
The U.S. military has suspended all of its Osprey flights worldwide, including non-Air Force flights, after finding that the crash may have been due to a malfunction.
Japan's Ground Self-Defense Forces have also suspended flights of its V-22 Ospreys, which have been temporarily deployed at Camp Kisarazu in Chiba Prefecture, near Tokyo.
Related coverage:
U.S. vows not to fly Osprey aircraft until confirming safety
U.S. military grounds entire Osprey fleet after crash off Japan coast
3 more bodies of crashed U.S. Osprey crew members recovered in Japan
