Japanese and U.S. search teams have located the main fuselage of a Bell Boeing CV-22B Osprey aircraft that crashed during a training exercise on Nov. 29, 2023, near Yakushima, Japan, officials said.
Workers also located the bodies of five members of the eight-member crew involved in the incident. Two crew members remain unaccounted for, according to media reports.
Japanese first responders located and recovered the first known casualty from the incident hours after the aircraft disappeared, said the U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command (SOC).
“There is an ongoing combined effort to recover the remaining crew members from the wreckage,” they said in a statement Dec. 4.
“The coalition of military, coast guard, law enforcement, mariners, and local volunteers remain steadfast in locating and bringing the U.S. Service Members back to their units and their families.
“The military has also turned to dispatching professional support for the care of the families. As efforts persist for the location and recovery of the entire crew, the privacy of the families and loved ones impacted by this tragic incident remains a great concern.”
The identities of the five crewmembers located Dec. 4 have yet to be determined and will be released at a later date, officials said.
The Air Force identified the deceased airman previously located as Staff Sgt. Jacob M. Galliher, 24. Sgt Galliher was a young father who went by the first name Jake, the New York Times reported.
It’s unclear what caused the crash, which occurred during what the Air Force described as a “routine training mission” involving a U.S. Air Force Osprey stationed at Yokota Air Base.
The tiltrotor aircraft, jointly developed by Bell and Boeing, was assigned to the 353rd Special Operations Wing. Pieces of the wreckage were found on the ocean floor less than a mile from Yakushima, an island in southeast Japan, the Times reported, citing the Japanese Coast Guard.
This marks the fourth time in two years a U.S- operated Osprey has been involved in a fatal accident, according to the BBC. Japan is the only other nation to operate the aircraft and has grounded its fleet, the BBC reported. As of the morning of Dec. 5, the U.S. continued to operate Ospreys in Japan.
A Pentagon spokesperson told the BBC: “All V-22 Ospreys in Japan operate only after undergoing thorough maintenance and safety checks.”
“The United States is taking all appropriate safety measures, as we do for every flight and every operation,” the spokesperson said.
