HEIYO

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Survey ship involved in search for victims of helicoper crash

The 'Heiyo' joined the search for the victims of a downed UH-60JA Black Hawk of the Japan Air Self-Defense on April 18, 2023. On April 17 SAR crews had recovered two more bodies from the submerged wreckage of the Japanese military helicopter that had crashed in the East China Sea on April 6 at 3.56 p.m. during a reconnaissance flight 11 miles northwest of Miyako Airport with with a mixed crew of 10 aboard, including Lt. Gen. Yuichi Sakamoto, commander of the Ground Self-Defense Force’s 8th Division; five members of the division’s headquarters staff; four members of the Air Self-Defense Force’s 8th Wing; and a member of Camp Miyako’s security force. Sakamoto, 55, was appointed division commander March 31. Japanese divers recovered one body in the morning and the other several hours later. The crew last radioed air traffic controllers about two minutes before the helicopter disappeared from radar but they said nothing about in-flight emergencies. A section of the fuselage with several bodies was discovered on April 13 around 10 p.m. using sonar and underwater cameras. A remotely operated underwater vehicle launched on April 14 revealed severe damage to the aircraft section. Rough seas kept divers from the area until April 16. More than 20 pieces of the helicopter have been found, including portions of the nose, rotor blade and fuel tank. The aircraft’s flight recorder has not been found. Four victims’ remains have been brought up since April 16 from the site in 350 feet of water just offshore of Irabu Island, southwest of Okinawa. The remains were carried by helicopter to an Air Self-Defense Force base on Miyako Island where the deaths were confirmed on April 18 at 11 a.m. Just one body remains in a section of the Black Hawk's fuselage discovered in the morning of April 16. The remaining five individuals aboard the helicopter were unaccounted for. Five surveillance aircraft, seven Japanese navy and coast guard vessels and 360 personnel continued the search for the five crew members and missing parts of the Black Hawk. Conversations were underway to potentially employ private companies to aid in the search effort.