An American Osprey plane crashes off the coast of Japan with eight people on board

Tokyo
CNN
—

A US military Osprey plane crashed off the coast of the Japanese island of Yakushima in southern Kagoshima Prefecture on Wednesday, with eight people on board, according to a Japanese Coast Guard spokesman.

The Coast Guard received information about the accident at around 2:47 p.m. local time (12:47 a.m. ET), the spokesman said, adding that the 10th Regional Headquarters of the Coast Guard sent a patrol boat and an aircraft to the crash area.

The spokesman said that there is currently no information about whether there are injuries.

This is the latest Fatal crash of an Osprey military planewith numerous reported incidents over the years.

In August of this year, three US Marines were killed and several others were seriously injured after an Osprey plane crashed during military exercises in Australia.

In 2022, Five US Marines They died after their MV-22B Osprey crashed during a training mission near Glamis, California. That same year, four U.S. service members were killed when their Osprey plane crashed during NATO training exercises in Norway.

The Osprey is a very agile aircraft that can take off vertically like a helicopter, but also cruise at high speed like a more traditional turboprop aircraft with wings.

Overall, the Ospreys are safe to fly, but the plane has had a history of mechanical and operational problems, dating back to its inception in the 1980s, according to CNN military analyst and retired US Air Force Colonel Cedric Layton.