Hommam Al Nassim 
Two helicopters of the Japanese Navy’s Self-Defense Forces crashed on Saturday in the Pacific Ocean off the Izu Islands, killing one crew member, and missing 7 others.
Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara confirmed during a press conference that the helicopters were participating in a night exercise when the accident occurred, and that the cause of the crash was still unknown.
“The priority is to save lives,” Kihara said, stressing that attempts to find the missing are still ongoing, possible debris has been detected at the scene, and search and rescue operations are expected to continue in the area.
Communication with one of the helicopters, the Mitsubishi SH-60K, was cut off at 22:38 local time (13:38 GMT), and 25 minutes later, the second helicopter was confirmed to have been disconnected.
The incident comes a year after another Japanese UH-60JA military helicopter crashed in the Okinawa area, killing all ten crew members.
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