Japan said it has asked the U.S. to suspend all non-emergency V-22 Osprey flights over its territory after one fell into the sea on Wednesday in western Japan, marking the country's first fatal U.S. military plane crash in five years, APA reports citing Reuters.
The U.S. Air Force, which was operating the tilt-rotor aircraft, says the cause of the mishap, which killed at least one person, is currently unknown. The condition of the other seven people onboard is not known.
"The occurrence of such an accident causes great anxiety to the people of the region... and we are requesting the U.S. side to conduct flights of Ospreys deployed in Japan after these flights are confirmed to be safe," Minoru Kihara said in parliament on Thursday, reversing a decision yesterday to allow such flights to continue.
The Japan Self-Defense Forces (SDF), which also operates Ospreys, will suspend flights of the transport aircraft until the circumstances of the incident are clarified, another senior defense ministry official said in parliament.