Debris recovered from Japanese military helicopter; crew still missing

April 7 (UPI) -- The Japan Coast Guard pulled debris and a lifeboat from the sea between Okinawa and Taiwan on Friday apparently from a Self Defense Force helicopter that disappeared the previous day, but the crew of 10 remain unaccounted for.

The Mitsubishi Heavy Industries-made UH-60JA multipurpose helicopter vanished from radar Thursday afternoon 10 minutes into a 75-minute flight from a base on Miyako Island and had been communicating with air traffic control until two minutes before apparently crashing into the sea, according to SDF officials.

The debris found in the area where the aircraft is believed to have gone down included two un-inflated lifeboats, part of a rotor blade, a door and a window frame. SDF said insignia and serial numbers on some of the debris are a match with the missing aircraft.

Those missing include Lt. Gen. Yuichi Sakamoto, the commander the SDF's 8th Division which is in charge of the defense of the Kyushu archipelago, Japan's most southern region.

"We have been searching near the site around the clock since the incident but we haven't been able to find Lt. Gen. Sakamoto and nine others," Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada told a press conference.

The minister said he had ordered the search team to be expanded ten-fold to 200 people and that area was now being combed by two Maritime Self-Defense Force ships, eight SDF aircraft and four JCG vessels.

The helicopter, which flew to Miyako from the Okinawa capital Naha on Thursday, passed a 50-flying-hour inspection last month and a test flight without any issues being found.

The weather at the time was said to be good and the sea was calm.

The location is 250 miles east of Taiwan and close to the Senkaku Islands which are claimed by Beijing, but the SDF public relations office said the incident was most likely an accident and that the likelihood of an attack or other event was "quite low."

The SDF said the worst helicopter crash in its history occurred in Ehime Prefecture in south-eastern Japan in February 1968 which killed eight people.