A US Marine Corps AV-8 Harrier fighter jet yesterday crashed into the ocean off the coast of southwestern Okinawa in Japan, with the pilot ejecting safely from the aircraft.
The US military at Camp Butler in Okinawa said the cause of the crash was under investigation.
The aircraft had been assigned to Okinawa, which hosts more than half of the 50,000 US troops based in Japan under a bilateral security agreement.
Other details were not immediately available.
The Japan Coast Guard also confirmed the crash, which was about 153km east of the main Okinawan island.
The coast guard initially received a request to help in the rescue, but it was withdrawn after a US Air Force helicopter recovered the pilot, a coast guard official said.
People in Okinawa have complained about crashes, noise from aircraft and crime by service members for years, and some say they are unfairly burdened with housing US troops.
Crashes are a sensitive issue in Okinawa.
In 2004, a US military helicopter crashed into a university campus in Okinawa, although students were on summer vacation and the incident did not cause any civilian deaths or injuries.
Also contentious is a plan to relocate the Marine Corps Air Station Futenma to a less densely populated part of Okinawa.
The relocation is part of a 1996 bilateral agreement, which also includes the transfer of about 9,000 US Marines outside of Japan.
The plan followed widespread outrage over the 1995 rape of a schoolgirl by three US servicemen.
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
‘GREAT OPPRTUNITY’: The Paraguayan president made the remarks following Donald Trump’s tapping of several figures with deep Latin America expertise for his Cabinet Paraguay President Santiago Pena called US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming foreign policy team a “dream come true” as his nation stands to become more relevant in the next US administration. “It’s a great opportunity for us to advance very, very fast in the bilateral agenda on trade, security, rule of law and make Paraguay a much closer ally” to the US, Pena said in an interview in Washington ahead of Trump’s inauguration today. “One of the biggest challenges for Paraguay was that image of an island surrounded by land, a country that was isolated and not many people know about it,”
‘FIGHT TO THE END’: Attacking a court is ‘unprecedented’ in South Korea and those involved would likely face jail time, a South Korean political pundit said Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday stormed a Seoul court after a judge extended the impeached leader’s detention over his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law. Tens of thousands of people had gathered outside the Seoul Western District Court on Saturday in a show of support for Yoon, who became South Korea’s first sitting head of state to be arrested in a dawn raid last week. After the court extended his detention on Saturday, the president’s supporters smashed windows and doors as they rushed inside the building. Hundreds of police officers charged into the court, arresting dozens and denouncing an
CYBERSCAM: Anne, an interior decorator with mental health problems, spent a year and a half believing she was communicating with Brad Pitt and lost US$855,259 A French woman who revealed on TV how she had lost her life savings to scammers posing as Brad Pitt has faced a wave of online harassment and mockery, leading the interview to be withdrawn on Tuesday. The woman, named as Anne, told the Seven to Eight program on the TF1 channel how she had believed she was in a romantic relationship with the Hollywood star, leading her to divorce her husband and transfer 830,000 euros (US$855,259). The scammers used fake social media and WhatsApp accounts, as well as artificial intelligence image-creating technology to send Anne selfies and other messages
RSS