Aircraft wreckage found in search for missing Japan GSDF helicopter

A Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) helicopter carrying 10 people, including a lieutenant general, went missing on Thursday afternoon in waters off the southwestern prefecture of Okinawa, with what could be parts of the chopper later found in the sea.

General Yasunori Morishita, chief of staff of the GSDF, told a press conference Thursday evening that the UH-60JA multipurpose chopper which belongs to a unit under the GSDF's 8th Division based in Kumamoto Prefecture is believed to have been caught up in an aircraft accident.

Two pilots, two mechanics, and six crew were on board and all were Self-Defense Force members, whose whereabouts still remain unknown, including Lieutenant General Yuichi Sakamoto, the 55-year-old head of the division, Morishita confirmed.

Oil and objects including what could be part of a rotor blade were found in the sea area where the accident is believed to have occurred, according to the Japan Coast Guard who dispatched patrol ships to nearby waters in search for the helicopter.

A lifeboat printed with GSDF signs was also found in a folded state, carrying no one on it, it added.

The GSDF is trying to confirm whether the objects are from the missing helicopter.

"We are putting maximum priority on human life and rescue operations," Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters in Tokyo on Thursday.

The helicopter disappeared from radar at around 4:00 pm local time Thursday near Okinawa's Miyakojima Island, shortly after taking off from the island to surveil nearby land features, according to the GSDF.

Rough weather conditions were not reported around the time the helicopter went missing.