Japan plans to suspend its own Osprey flights after US plane crash

Tokyo: Japan plans to suspend its own Osprey flights after a US Air Force Osprey based in Japan crashed into waters off the southern coast during a training mission, officials said Thursday. Tokyo has also asked the US military to stop all Ospreys operating in Japan except for those searching for victims of crash.

A senior Defence Ministry official, Taro Yamato, told a parliamentary hearing that Japan plans to suspend flights of Ospreys for the time being, but there were few other immediate details. A US Air Force Osprey based in Japan crashed during a training mission Wednesday off of the country’s southern coast,

killing at least one of the

eight crew members. The cause of the crash and the status of the seven others on board were not immediately known, Japanese coast guard spokesperson said.