The eight men aboard an Air Force CV-22B Osprey that crashed off the shore of Yakushima, Japan, are still missing, the Pentagon said Thursday.
According to Japanese coast guard officials, a U.S. Osprey military aircraft crashed near the island of Yakushima on Wednesday afternoon, killing at least one crew member and prompting a large rescue operation.
Defense spokesperson Sabrina Singh confirmed Thursday the crash happened while the aircraft was performing a routine training mission. Emergency personnel remain on scene conducting a search and rescue operation, she said during a press conference.
“I don’t have an update for you on recovery efforts just yet,” she said. “Again, we know that there are eight missing. The search and recovery efforts are ongoing. I hope that we will have more to share soon, but at this moment, I just don’t.”
The aircraft was registered with Yokota Air Base in Tokyo and assigned to the 353rd Special Operations Wind, The Hill previously reported.
A Japanese news service reported the Osprey rolled over mid-flight, describing a fire in one of the engines and an explosion before heading toward the water.
The U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command said the cause of the crash is still unknown.
Ospreys carry special operations troops and are hybrid aircraft that take off and land like helicopters but are much faster in the air.
They have been criticized after several crashes in recent years. Singh said the department still is looking at what happened and whether other Ospreys should be examined before flying.
She said the U.S. Ospre’s “are still operating in Japan” but the department’s focus remains on the search and rescue effort.
“It’s currently under investigation to see exactly what happened,” she said. “If the investigation concludes that there need to be additional steps taken, we’ll make … certainly do that, but at this time, the investigation is underway on what happened.”