Searches continued Tuesday for two missing crew members after a U.S. military Osprey aircraft crashed off the coast of southwestern Japan last week.
With six already confirmed dead, Japan's Self-Defense Forces combed the southern coastline of Yakushima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture for debris in poor visibility due to fog, following the discovery of five bodies and major wreckage the previous day.
Of the five, two have been recovered from the wreckage, while efforts to retrieve the remaining three crew members are being intensified.
Out of the eight members on board, the six confirmed fatalities mark the first-ever deadly accident involving an Osprey among Japan and U.S. forces in the country. The incident is also the deadliest-ever accident involving the tilt-rotor aircraft for the U.S. military.
The crashed CV-22 transport aircraft, assigned to Yokota Air Base in the western suburbs of Tokyo, was heading to Kadena Air Base in the southern island prefecture of Okinawa from the U.S. military base in Iwakuni, Yamaguchi Prefecture, western Japan.
Related coverage:
FOCUS: Fears grow Japan-U.S. alliance may be hurt following Osprey crash
Remains of 5 found in search for crashed U.S. Osprey crew in Japan
Pieces of Osprey wreckage given to U.S. after crash off Japan
